Magical Dance
by PhoenixIsis
Summary: A young sorceress must learn to be stong in her powers. A princess finds a way to be free. Two young men must help them. SS, ET (On Hold)
1. Beginnings

Disclaimer: I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura  
  
Chapter 1  
  
"She grows tired," mumbled a large mountain lion standing at the back of a circular stone room. There were no windows and the only light was coming from a girl standing in the middle of the room.  
  
A man with long white hair and matching angel wings nodded at the comment. "She has nothing left to do except strengthen her powers. The cards are hers. She is our mistress now, but her powers are still under developed."  
  
The girl in the middle, age fifteen, had a faint pink aura around her as she drew power from within herself. A bright golden barrier formed around her, providing the only light in the room. A long pink staff is held out in front of her, matching the flowing pink robes she wore. The light flickered slightly, then faded away causing the girl to fall to her knees.  
  
"Sakura!" The two guardian rushed forward, but she held up a hand to them and weakly waved them off.   
  
"I'm fine," she whispered. Her eyes are closed as she fought to regain her strength. She slowly raised herself to her feet, the staff disappearing into a small star key. Torches flared up around the room and she was revealed to have honey brown hair that barely reached past her ear lobes. Her eyes flitted open and closed a few times as she tried to regain her eyesight. "I'm fine," she said again with more force, throwing the hoarseness from her voice. She finally opened her eyes, the emerald green flaring slightly with the torch light. She smiled weakly at her guardians, who still seemed concerned. "Really, Yue and Kerberous, I'm fine."  
  
Yue's white appearance was blinding in the dim room with the fire light dancing off his frame. His wings made him seem ethereal, but his ice blue eyes seemed to cut into the soul. His long white hair cascaded down his back blending into his white and blue clothes. His arms were folded and his face showed little to no expression. "I think that is enough for today, mistress," came his monotone voice.   
  
Kerberous, on the other hand, was a large mountain lion, his golden fur glowing in the light. His large white wings made him look mythical and surreal. His large brown eyes were full of concern for his mistress the red jewel on his forehead glittering slightly. "Agreed," came Kerberous's gruff sounding voice, which hid his normally jovial nature. "You push yourself too much, Sakura-sama."  
  
The girl nodded a slight grin on her face. "I just need to try a little harder." Both guardians sighed. That was not the idea. "I think I'll go visit with Tomoyo-chan for a bit." She swept slowly out of the room, getting used to using her legs again, the guardians following looking at one another.  
  
~~~ ~~~ ~~~  
  
She sang the words louder this time to let her light voice carry through the room. She smiled to herself when she finished. She finally got the notes right. She hopped up from her chair, her lavender dress swishing like the sound of crumpled tissue paper. Her long black hair is tied up in a French braid that falls gracefully over one shoulder. Her lavender eyes flinted around the room, smiling at all the purple she found there. There was so much purple that one would think they had entered a grape or plum skin. A soft knock at the door, pulled her out of her reverie and in her sweet, soft voice said, "Come in."  
  
A head of honey brown peeked in, comically, with the owner's green eyes flashing. "Good morning, Tomoyo-chan."  
  
Princess Tomoyo of the Daidouji clan smiled. "Sakura-chan. Just the person I was going to send for."  
  
"Hoe?!" remarked Sakura, her eyes wide with concern and surprise. Every time Tomoyo wanted to see her problems arose. For instance, the time when she was still collecting the Clow Cards, magical cards that had claimed her as their mistress, Tomoyo made costumes and insisted on drawing the action. More than once Tomoyo ended up in danger, but she never seemed to mind. Danger was all the more fun in the princess's dull life. Sakura sometimes felt sorry for the princess because she was never allowed to do anything dangerous. Queen Sonomi was very protective of her daughter, placing guards and knights around her at all times. Though, no matter how many restrictions were made, Tomoyo's spirit never diminished.  
  
Tomoyo walked across the room towards Sakura with a slight bounce in her step. Her eyes were glittering with... how would one describe the look she wore? Only to Sakura it meant certain doom. "As you know, I'm turning sixteen tomorrow and my mother is holding a week of celebration with several different balls and activities. Tomorrow and the last night will be the two largest balls. I know how much you detest being at these functions, but it would really mean the world to me if you would be there for me, Sakura-chan."  
  
Sakura had already been invited by the Queen, for her father and her had done the magical decorations for each night. She had practiced for at least a month in order to fully control the spells for the different activities so that she wouldn't have to think about the spells. So what was Tomoyo getting at? She was going to be at the ball tomorrow night anyway because she needed to be close to keep her spells strong. Sakura also knew that the princess really didn't need support either. Tomoyo was her best at court functions, so why did she need her? The answer came swiftly and Sakura felt her heart sink just as fast.  
  
Tomoyo positively beamed. "So if you are to be near me I want you to wear the dresses I made." Stars twinkled in her lavender eyes.  
  
Sakura face-faulted. "But Tomoyo-chan, I alre-"  
  
Tomoyo cut her off. "No I insist you wear it! You will look so kawaii in them!" She had faded into her own dream world, now. "I can see it now. Clow Mistress Sakura gliding down the stairs, while the men in the room faint from her beauty and the women go green with jealousy. Your brother, Touya, will have to fend off all the new suitors with a stick. And then I'll be able to make Sakura-chan's courting dresses and her wedding dress and..."  
  
Sakura was sweating profusely. She really didn't want to wear such clothes which out ranked her status, whatever status that was. However, she could never refuse the princess, who took great joy in making outfits for Sakura to wear, including the pink robes she wore now. Sakura could never tell her best friend that she hated dresses and hated dressing up entirely. It would break her heart and that was one thing Sakura could never do.  
  
"Anyway," continued Tomoyo, escaping her daydream, "Tomorrow you will come around noon then and we will get ready together." She clasped her hands to Sakura's.  
  
So much for hiding in the shadows. Tomoyo will want to show her off, which meant a lot of unwanted attention, especially from a certain baron who made her flesh crawl with the thought. She groaned inwardly as Tomoyo shuffled Sakura around telling her all about what she was going to do and how she was going to do it. "This will be a long day," thought Sakura.  
  
~~~ ~~~ ~~~  
  
"Xiao Lang!" called four girls in the entrance foyer. Fie Mie, Fuutie, Xie Fa, and Fan Ran we shuffling around looking for their errant little brother. It never ceased to amaze them that Xiao Lang, heir to the Li clan and Maho Kingdom, could disappear at the most inconvenient times. They still had a half day journey to the Shounin Kingdom to celebrate the princess's birthday. The Li family had been formally invited to attend, along with several other countries, nobles, and clergy, and thus they had to attend in order to not give offense to one of their allies.   
  
The main reason they were attending, however, was due to Queen Yelan and her hope of pinning down her son to choose a wife. It was widely famed that Princess Tomoyo was a rare beauty with a caring nature and strong regal grace. A perfect soon-to-be queen. Xiao Lang, however, had seemed to catch wind of what was being planned behind his back. Thus, he was continuously disappearing, delaying their arrival by, already, one day.  
  
Queen Yelan descended down the stairs of the manor house, her blue silk skirts hugging her lithe figure. A sparkling gold clasp held her long black hair, which descends down the length of her back. Her black brown eyes surveyed the entrance with critical analysis, but her face remained emotion free. In reality, Yelan wanted to strangle her son. He was so much like his father, except that he thoroughly detested authority. Curious, for a would-be-king.  
  
At the bottom of the stairs, the four brown haired princesses bowed slightly to their mother, before they huddled together to talk. Yelan had a hard time with determining how her daughters turned out to be so unlike her. They had their father's love of life and lived to tell everyone about it. Xiao Lang, on the other hand, was quiet, like herself, but had a sharp temper and even sharper tongue when provoked. What was she going to do with the lot of them? So many hopeless cases for one woman to handle.   
  
She sighed inwardly. "Xiao Lang," she spoke, her voice no louder than a gentle whisper. A warm red aura shimmered slightly, carrying her words across the grounds searching for an errant son.  
  
***  
  
A boy of sixteen fell out of a tree in the court yard of the manor house, when the words of Yelan reached him. His chestnut brown hair was mussed and his reddish brown eyes reflected anger and annoyance. Another boy leaned against the trunk of the tree, his navy blue hair and matching eyes glinting mischievously. "Time to go, my cute descendent," remarked the blue hair boy, as he pushed himself from the tree trunk.  
  
Syaoran grumbled as he picked himself off the ground. He hated when his mother called him like that. "Don't call me that, Eriol," he snapped. "I really don't care if you have half the reincarnated soul of one of my ancestors." He brushed the dirt off his brown pants and green shirt.  
  
Eriol's mouth carved in a smile as he led the way back into the manor. He enjoyed teasing and annoying Syaoran, especially when he was in a sour mood. The only time he ever left the prince alone was when Syaoran was in a particularly bad mood. His temper was not one to mess with and Eriol was very wise to avoid him at such times. Nonetheless, Eriol was in light spirits as he and the young prince greeted the Queen and the princesses. He couldn't wait to see what Yelan had in mind for her son this time.  
  
Syaoran, on the other hand, was in a foul mood. He felt like his life was going to be taken out of his hands, and a cloud of certain doom loomed on the horizon. He had no interest in this trip, let alone any of the simpering ladies that he would have to endure, but his mother was growing impatient. "I'm only sixteen," repeated over and over in his mind as he was lead towards the carriages.  
  
He was determined to ignore the fact that he needed to get married soon, for most nobles married young, especially women. He somewhat pitied the girls because after seventeen they were considered life-long spinsters. Luckily for him, he could wait until he was twenty to marry, but his mother probably wouldn't let him. Sadly, his sisters were already being marked down as spinsters for none of them had even married. At ages twenty, twenty-one, twenty-four, and twenty six, respectively, his sisters still were eligible maidans. Syaoran knew that his mother wouldn't stand for the delay much longer, and he didn't want her to have to wait on him that long. He sighed, leaning up against the back of the carriage as it started to move. He just hoped he would get the chance to choose when the time came.  
  
~~~ ~~~ ~~~  
  
"Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura stood before a full length mirror as four servants scuttled around her, helping to dress the young sorceress.   
  
The princess looked on and directed here and there. "Yes, Sakura-chan?"  
  
"How many layers will I be wearing?" She had already been standing on the stool for an hour for fitting and placement of the petticoats. The corset she wore, was already suffocating her, it's strings pulled so tight that Sakura felt like an elephant squeezed to a toothpick.  
  
"Just two more. The surcoat and the over dress," Tomoyo stated. Stars were in her eyes and wore a matching petticoat and corset to those of Sakura's, but had gold trim here and there. "Ah, Sakura-chan! You will look so pretty! You will have to let me draw you when we are done, that is if we have time."  
  
"Hoe?" Small sweat beads appeared on Sakura's forehead. Sometimes the princess was really scary.  
  
The four maids exited the main chamber into the adjoining one to gather the surcoats and over dresses for the two women. Sakura stepped down off the pedestal and gratefully sat before a large vanity, with Tomoyo beside her. Two other maids stood there and began to brush their hair. Tomoyo's long black hair was pulled up into princess braids, held by a gold clasp shaped like a rose. A small golden and diamond studded tiara was placed on the crown of her head to finish off the hair. Slight blush and light colors were added to her creamy skin toned face and diamond earrings were fixed on her ears.  
  
Sakura's short honey brown hair was left down. She picked up her gold star necklace, a symbol of first class wizarding powers and ability, and started to pull it over her head.   
  
Tomoyo gasped. "Sakura-chan?! No!"  
  
"Eh?" Sakura paused in the motion. "I'm suppose to wear this at all times, Tomoyo-chan."  
  
"I know," she said. "But I have a better way for you to wear it."   
  
The servant doing Sakura's hair picked up the necklace from Sakura and carefully removed the the star. Picking up a smaller rope of gold and emeralds, she slid the charm onto it before carefully centering the star in the center of Sakura's forehead. A few pins later and a little make-up here and there and she was done. Looking into the mirror, Sakura smiled brightly. She looked older than her Tom boyish self and the star upon her forehead would draw people in to focus on her most beautiful feature, her green eyes.  
  
Tomoyo gracefully rose from her seat and was helped onto the stool. The other four maids returned with four garments and laid them on the bed. Coming forward they pulled a dark purple surcoat with gold trim on the awaiting princess. The servants, smoothed, placed, and tied the surcoat into place before they placed on the top coat. The heavy navy blue velvet material hugged swiftly to her form, the rich colors pulling out the color of her eyes. Intricate gold patterns lined the rims of her long sleeves, low cut collar, waist, and bottom hem of the dress.  
  
Sakura smiled as she took in the sight of her best friend. It never ceased to amaze her how dazzling and beautiful Tomoyo was. She was definitely a true image of the rumors that famed her the beauty of the land. She could have anyone she wanted as a suitor, which made Sakura slightly sad. Sakura would lose her best friend, one day to love, and she would be left alone.  
  
Tomoyo stepped down from the stool and Sakura made her way on. A pale pink surcoat with embroidered white cherry blossoms was pulled on and tied. "Wow, Tomoyo-chan. You never cease to amaze me," Sakura said, looking at the needlepoint. Tomoyo blushed as the next layer was placed on, a lovely darker shade of pink made of satin. Silk flower buds of pink and white wrapped around the empire waist. Her shoulders were slightly more revealed than Tomoyo's, but her sleeves were much longer. The skirt split slightly at the bottom to reveal shimmery glimpses of the surcoat beneath.  
  
"So what do you think?" prompted Tomoyo.  
  
"I think you should open your own clothing market."  
  
Tomoyo's blushed deepened. Her best friend's opinion meant the world to her and she was very excited to have her wear the dresses she made. "I can't wait to show you off, Sakura-chan."  
  
Sakura sighed, the effect of looking pretty gone. "Umm... Tomoyo-chan... I don't think I can pull this off. I don't know how to do a lot of the stuff nobles due at court."  
  
Tomoyo smiled. "You will be wonderful and just fine, Sakura-chan. You can do anything even pulling off being a princess for an evening. Besides, you promised to go and what better way than in style."  
  
Sakura stepped off the stool. Her friend certainly had a lot more confidence in her than she did. A soft knock at the door pulled the girls out of their conversation. One of the maids opened the door to reveal another servant girl. A few words were exchanged in hushed and hurried tones before the maid closed the door. "It is time, your highness."  
  
Tomoyo smiled and waved the maids away. She grabbed ahold of Sakura's trembling arm and pulled her towards the door. "The hardest part is leaving the room."  
  
Sakura whimpered slightly, but was pulled out of the room and into the hall. Together they made their way to the ballroom, their presence announced only by the soft sound of a cascading waterfall. "Here we go," they said together when they reached the entrance to the ball. They both took a cleansing breath before taking a step into the light of the ball room, their hands clasped tightly together. 


	2. Banquet

Disclaimer: I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Syaoran stood bored against a pillar in the grand ballroom. He had a slight scowl on his face as he surveyed the room and its people. Silvery candlesticks shone everywhere giving a powerful light to the room, though darkening the corners ever so slightly. There were small tables to his right, covered in lavender cloths with small vases with pink and purple nadeshiko flowers as the centerpieces. Large purple and navy blue tapestries were hung on the upper walls to dampen the slightly over-marbleized stones. The roof, which had caught his attention earlier, had been spelled to look like the sky outside. It was presently just turning midnight blue as dusk slowly faded away. He was slightly amused at the steady downfall of flowers that appeared out of thin air, and disappeared as soon as they touched an object. A lot of magic had gone into this party, he mused, but there didn't seem to be any mages around. Lastly, his eyes took in the huge dark blue curtains, that boxed in the upper area of the ball room, where an orchestra would sit to play for the ball following the dinner.   
  
Other than the grand appearance of the ball, Syaoran barely paid attention to anything or anyone else. He really hated court functions and balls, and thus secluded himself from others with a cold glare and aloof personality. It worked for the most part, except for the fact that Eriol never left him alone. Okay, he could deal with Eriol, for the most part, but he couldn't deal with Eriol's entourage of simpering females. Eriol attracted them like a moth to a flame, and to say the least loved the attention. Syaroan, however, did not and very often lost his temper with the courtesans. Presently he was glad that most of the young women were clustered in groups far away from Eriol and himself "holding up" the pillar.   
  
"You seem beyond bored, Syaoran," commented Eriol, a small smirk slicing his features. "Perhaps a few women to talk to would ease your mind?"  
  
Syaoran only growled his annoyance at his "friend." He was currently scowling because of his four sisters, whom had monopolized two knights of the Shounin Kingdom. The two knights appeared to be bored, maybe more so than he, and his sisters, of course, didn't even notice. He sighed and prayed that someday they would get tied down in marriage and leave the poor men of the world alone.  
  
Eriol chuckled slightly to himself. He was in the mood to reek havoc on the poor prince, but he still hadn't found who or what he could use. His plans were interrupted suddenly, as a strong magical aura flooded the room.  
  
Syaoran's head snapped up in that instant. Amber and blue surveyed the room, searching for its source, before landing on the only two new arrivals. Across the room were two young girls descending the stairs is graceful small steps. At this distance it was hard to see the expression on their faces, but it seemed that one of them was very reluctant in coming. A tiara was placed on one with black hair, who stepped down into the room with overwhelming confidence. "The princess," mumbled Syaoran under his breath. The girl to the left of the princess, however, intrigued him more. From what he could tell at this distance she had fairly short hair, unusual for a high ranking noble, which meant she was of a lower class status. Her hair seemed to shine, as did her multi-shaded pink gown, from the many candles. She held herself a little uncertain and was holding onto the Princess's hand for dear life. Syaoran snorted, realizing that the girl was probably a new courtesan or the hand maiden of the princess. One thing, however, didn't add up. One of those two girls had the powerful magical aura he and Eriol felt. "Which one is it?" spat Syaoran, loud enough for Eriol to hear.  
  
"Your mother would have told us if the princess had magic, so I think it is the lady-in-waiting," Eriol replied, his eyes flickering between the princess and the girl beside her. "Either way, they are both heart stoppers. I think I want-" before he could finish that thought, he felt something hit him on the head. "What?" He complained, looking at the one who hit him, Syaoran.  
  
"I don't want to hear what you want!" hissed Syaoran, his amber eyes ablaze with anger and annoyance.  
  
Eriol sighed, before a wicked gleam smeared his eyes. He knew exactly what he was going to do now to annoy his "cute little descendent." Of course he'd need to make a quick getaway when Syaoran caught wind, for Eriol valued his life a little more than his pranks. He picked his target and smiled. She would be prefect, he decided.  
  
~~ ~~  
  
"Oniichan! Yukito-san!" exclaimed Sakura, happily when she and Tomoyo finally stepped off the stairs.   
  
A man with dark brown hair and matching eyes, stopped before the two young girls. He wore a white uniform or the Royal Guards with several decorations of status. Normally he would be seen in more knight-like attire with chain mail and tunic, but today he only wore the golden spurs and ceremonial sword given to knights only. Touya Kinomoto, held out his hand to the princess. "Good evening, Princess," he said smoothly, before glancing at Sakura. "Hi, kaijuu."  
  
His best friend, Yukito Tsukishiro, stood beside him in the same attire. His kind eyes were a dark brown and his hair was a gentle gray-white. Unlike his over protective friend, his nature was kind and sweet and it radiated in every fiber of his being. Well, almost. Yukito had a secret few knew about. He was shown as a cold, emotionless guardian for his mistress. Yue was always with him and always knew what was going on, but when he took over, Yukito ceased to exist. Sometimes that bothered the young man, but he was still glad that he existed sometimes. "Good evening Tomoyo-chan, Sakura-chan," he said sweetly, extending his arm to Sakura.  
  
Sakura refrained from stepping on Touya's foot, barely, and took Yukito's arm. He was a good friend and brother-like figure for her. She had come a long way from being the blushing, renegade card captor as a child to the sweet and explosive young sorceress she was today. Then again, not much of a difference was there, except that her outer appearance was that of a beautiful young lady, not a shapeless child. "Thank you, Yukito-san," she said, and together the two couples moved into the ball room.  
  
Yukito leaned over to whisper into Sakura's ear as they walked through the room. "Sakura-chan?" He waited until he had her attention before continuing. "Yue wishes me to tell you that you should suppress you magical aura. There are dignitaries here that can sense magic and your aura is quite domineering."  
  
"Oh! I forgot!" Sakura said, a sheepish look sweeping across her features. "Otou-san told me that earlier. Sorry." She moved a hand to her star, whispering a few words, and her aura slowly disappeared to a normal, non-magic level.  
  
On the other side of the room, two young men leaning against a pillar, fell over. Only a slight cursing, muffled out by the crowd drifting out of the room to the banquet hall, proclaimed that anything was out of place.  
  
~~~ ~~~ ~~~  
  
Syaoran grumbled as he sat down next to his mother at the high table. She gave him only a slight disapproving glance that he had entered without an escort, but he didn't really care. He wanted to know where the princess and her lady-in-waiting were. The aura that he felt had been strong enough to even shake Eriol's cool reserve. and he wanted to know how powerful it really was. He glanced side long to see Queen Sonomi and the black hair princess seated in the middle of the high table. There was another royal family to the right of the princess, King Tiro, Queen Salvia, and their daughter Rika. Beside them sat a man in black robes, a gold star pendant clearly showing. Syaoran blinked before taking his gaze off the man.  
  
A mage? He didn't know there were any outside his kingdom that had high ranking positions. Maho had the largest population of magical beings in the whole known world and even had universities to teach magical gifted students. The star pendants were worn by only mages and strange enough, most regular people didn't know what they meant. It was a good thing, though, for some were not so kind to people who had weird talents such as magic. In fact, the Bakkin Kingdom far to south was known to execute and torture people with any sort of magical abilities. Apparently Queen Sonomi didn't mind having magic in her kingdom or at her table.  
  
Syaoran shrugged, pulling his mind from those thoughts. "Now to find the other," he mumbled. His mother was too engaged in a conversation with Queen Sonomi that she didn't ask what her son met by that. His amber eyes scanned the room, locating his annoying sisters immediately. They were interspersed with the royal guards at the double sided table nearest to him. He was starting to feel slightly sorry for the two knights that escorted the princess and her lady into the banquet hall. His sisters were all over them as were several other young women. The one with the darker brown hair looked slightly annoyed at all the attention, while the lighter hair one was smiling and overall cheerful to the women.   
  
After the royal guards and other members of the royal families, were the upper nobles, dukes and duchesses, along with high ranking knights not a part of the royal guard. Next were the Counts, then the Earls, then the Lords, and lastly the Barons and other lesser nobles. Courtesans were interspersed throughout based upon their age and rank. Seeing that the young lady wasn't seated at that long table, he turned his eyes to glance at the other one. It followed the same pattern of rank. He had almost given up trying to find the girl, when finally his eyes caught sight of her at the very end of the table. Unlike all the other lesser nobles, she had no one sitting in front of her, giving him a direct line sight to her.  
  
She was breath taking to behold as he focused his eyes upon her. She seemed slightly distraught and slightly out of place among all the lords and ladies. He could tell right away that she wasn't used to being in these types of settings. She looked a little lost and, though he would never admit it, lonely. No one seemed to be talking to her, but then again she was an odd end to the table, leaving little room for conversation.   
  
He took all that end even before he began to study her features. Her pink dress did wonders to the girl's complexion, pulling out the subtle pink tinge of her blush covered cheeks. She attempted to slouch slightly in her seat, but to no avail as the corset was far to tight for comfort. Her honey brown hair was sparkling with small white flowers that fell from the ceiling, making her look almost angelic. He was somewhat startled to realize that the flowers didn't disappear when they landed upon her.   
  
When she lifted her head slightly, to brush a few flowers out of her hair, two things caught his eyes simultaneously. One was two bright emerald green eyes, that he swore looked like the very gems themselves. The second was a gold star pendant centered directly on her forehead. In shock, Syaoran accidentally knocked over one of his forks. His mother glanced over at her son, giving him a sharp glare. Syaoran blushed before leaning down to pick up his fallen utensil.  
  
She had the symbol of a sorcerer! Not only that, but it was smack center in the middle of her forehead where you couldn't miss it. Is she absolutely insane?! There are people who know that symbol and many were not friends of magic. His face was a mixture of shock, wonder, and full out anger. Where did she come from and how did she have a gold star?  
  
~~ ~~   
  
Sakura glanced down at her plate, her eyes wide with concern. "What am I supposed to do with all these utensils!" she thought, her mind running at a hundred miles per second. There were five forks of different sizes and shapes to the left of her plate, three knifes and three spoons to the right and four small fork and spoon utensils above her plate. On top of that, to make things more confusing, there were three glasses to drink from as well.   
  
She sighed feeling more than ever out of place. Why couldn't they have just had a set of chopsticks and leave it there. In fact, why couldn't she just wear normal clothes too. The corset was cutting off circulation and the number of layers she wore were over heating her. Overall, she couldn't believe how people raved on about court functions and balls. This was more work than she ever thought she'd have to deal with.   
  
Where was the glamour that people kept talking about? There were very pretty decorations around, setting the tone of the banquet as well as the ball, and everyone was dressed in the very best clothing attire. Everything was shined to pristine order from magnificent jewels to the water goblets and silverware. To Sakura, however, it was all very boring without Tomoyo's enthusiasm around.  
  
She glanced up from her plate, and dusted some of the flowers from the ceiling out of her hair. She would have to have a talk with Flower tomorrow about why she was the only one with flowers not disappearing when they touched her. She let her emerald orbs drift over to the princess and her best friend, Tomoyo. She was aglow with happiness and wonder. It was obvious, even from this distance, that Tomoyo was loving her birthday ball.  
  
Her eyes drifted from her friend to survey more of the room. There were many gold colored birds scattered throughout the room upon silvery-gold perches. They would occasionally open their mouths to shoot fire out and form flaming designs. They were all illusions Fujitaka Kinomoto, Sakura's father, made for the celebration. His work was nothing but excellent quality, and it showed especially strong tonight.   
  
Sakura was glad that her father did most of the magic, for his spells masked the subtle clow magic that remained in the Sakura Cards. On the other hand, however, Sakura's raw magical ability was far stronger than her father's and thus only small amounts were ever used. Sadly, with the lack of proper training, Sakura couldn't control most of the raw magical energy and thus relied heavily on her Sakura Cards.  
  
She paused in her thoughts as a swift cold chill ran up and down her spine. Someone was watching her. She pulled her gaze off the enchantments and scanned the dinning room, subtly searching for the source. Her stomach lurched slightly at the first person she spotted looking in her direction, Baron Taitsu.   
  
Baron Kaiba Taitsu was a man in his early twentys with slimy black hair. His eyes would have been considered a silvery mist of blue, but Sakura only saw them as stone silver laced with lust. He was known to be overly cruel to people of lesser rank, lustful to all whom wore a skirt, and extremely possessive of what he deemed was his. To top it all off, he was obsessed with Sakura. It was to such a point that her flesh crawled just by the mention of his name.  
  
Thankfully, the source of the cold chill didn't come from that vile thing deemed human. Her green eyes searched again to finally lock with intense amber. "Hoe?" Sakura whispered, her mouth not working very well. Another chill tumbled down her spine, one far more electrical than cold. She broke eye contact swiftly, rubbing her hands together. She looked downwards, trying to ignore the eyes that seemed to bore into her head. "Who was that?" she whispered, her voice slightly ragged and her heart beating quickly. She tried to picture a face, but all she saw were those soul shattering eyes.   
  
She had to know who those eyes belonged to, but right now she was too afraid to even think about looking in that direction. When she calmed down, she would take a look, was her thought as a servant came forth and placed a small appetizer on her plate, a small circular design of shrimp and clams. When liquid was pored into one of her glasses, Sakura jumped with surprise. She looked up, a sheepish expression on her face, and tilted her head in apology at the startled servant. The servant walked on, a little uneasy about the young girl he had frightened.  
  
She glanced nervously around trying to figure out what utensil to pick up. She couldn't tell which utensil to use, however, for everyone had already started eating or were too indulged in conversation. Sakura sweat dropped looking at all the utensils, trying to figure which one to use. She started to pick up a small spoon above her plate when the chill came back, full force. She stopped what she was doing and looked up in the direction she knew it came from.  
  
This time she was able to get a good look at the man with the amber eyes. He had semi messy chestnut brown hair that presently had a few stray magical flowers. His eyes were still directing a glare in her direction, but a small smirk was upon his lips. She looked confused for a moment, before she realized that he was playing with a fork. She glanced down at her place setting and spotted the fork, farthest to her left. When she looked back up, the boy's focus was on his plate and food, not her. Sakura smiled slightly and picked up the fork and started to eat the food.  
  
~~ ~~   
  
Syaoran watched through his bangs as the girl smiled and picked up the fork he had been playing with. He concluded several things at that moment. One, was that she was not a lady-in-waiting for the princess because they knew everything about etiquette. Secondly, he knew she was not a courtesan or a lesser noble for two reasons in itself. If she had been a courtesan she would have been eying every single male in the room, picking out her choices for husband or fling. If she was a lesser noble, she would have never glanced at the high table once, let alone twice. Third, he was absolutely positive that she was a sorceress and furthermore she was the cause of these blasted flowers. He rubbed his hand through his hair, knocking out the flowers that had landed.  
  
"Xiao Lang?" came a soft voice beside him.  
  
He turned to see his mother's gaze fixed upon him. "Yes, mother?"  
  
"Is something wrong? You have barely touched your food."  
  
"Everything is fine, mother," he grumbled out. He then ate a few morsels before the plate was cleared and the next meal was placed down. This was a small piece of salmon with a sweet tasting sauce dripped delicately on top. He glanced across the room as the emerald sorceress received her plate. Once again she was at a total loss. He sighed. He knew now that she was definitely not one of the upper classes. He picked up his next fork, farthest to the left, and knife, farthest from the plate to the right. He shot a glance back to the sorceress who locked her gaze with him again, a faint blush upon her cheeks, before he saw her pick up the same utensils.   
  
He tried to rationalize why he was doing such a thing as helping her along. He decided that he was just helping her so that she would be able to eat and not pass out after the banquet from lack of food. Nonetheless, for the remainder of the thirteen courses, she mimicked him. Surprisingly, his harsh glare was softening by each course, which didn't go unnoticed by a certain blue hair friend of his. 


	3. Meeting

Chapter 3  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own cardcaptor sakura.  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Syaoran and Eriol slinked their way back into the ballroom after the banquet. This turned out to be a fairly difficult task, for the courtesans targeted the would-be-king as fresh meat. In a matter of minutes, Syaoran's fowl mood returned and Eriol was grinning from ear to ear. His amber eyes surveyed the room with distaste as the swarm of young ladies finally cornered them. He glared at them and ignored every single thing they said or did.  
  
Eriol found this highly amusing, but refrained from comment. He was going to bide his time till he set the first part of his plan into action. The courtesans were actually helping as they annoyed Syaoran to such an extreme that it set the mood he wanted. As soon as he found the girl, Eriol would "rescue" his friend from the simpering young ladies. He found, however, that finding the girl was a harder task than he anticipated because the courtesans were crowding them too much and flirting with him, constantly. He was starting to get as annoyed as the prince after the tenth girl asked to dance.  
  
Syaoran wasn't fairing any better and was beginning to lose his temper. How dumb could they get if they didn't take the hint by now that he wasn't interested? He grumbled slightly and scanned the room for an exit. "If you can't deal with them, running away is the next best-." He stopped on that thought when he caught sight of the sorceress. She was standing next to the princess, whom was surrounded by other women and their suitors. He shook his head to clear it. How is it that he could spot her anywhere in this ballroom? He could barely sense her magical aura, which meant he wasn't drawn to her because of her magic. Then why was he continuously searching her out?  
  
Eriol glanced at his friend and found that his eyes were focused upon something beyond their current entourage. He shifted his glasses more firmly upon his nose before following Syaoran's gaze. He smiled when his blue eyes finally rested upon the auburn hair sorceress. "Excellent," he murmured. "Excuse me, ladies, but I see someone I know," he said aloud. He started making his way out of the crowd of girls.  
  
Syaoran's gaze shifted to his friend that was now leaving him alone. "Where are you going, Eriol?"  
  
Eriol turned back and smiled. "I'm going to say hello to a pretty brunette with emerald eyes." He winked and moved out of the crowd.  
  
Syaoran sighed. "Of course Eriol was going to say hello to a girl. A brunette with em-" his thoughts ceased. "What?!" He practically shouted at his friend's back. The girls around him were slightly taken back, and even more so when he pushed his way through them following his friend.  
  
~~ ~~  
  
"Sakura-chan! You are so kawaii!" exclaimed a girl with short auburn hair, her matching eyes glittering with excitement. She wore a lavender dress, with her shoulders bare and a very low-neck line. Amethyst jewels adorned her throat, ears, and tiara. A man stood behind her, his arm wrapped tightly around her waist, wearing a dark blue suit.  
  
"Thank you, Rika-chan!" replied Sakura, her cheeks tinted pink at the compliment.  
  
"We came to wish you Happy Birthday, Princess Tomoyo," said the man, his kind brown eyes surveying the princess and her friend. "I'm glad that you were able to bring the Kinomoto-san out of her tower. Too much studying is not always good." The girls all sweat dropped at that comment, for the man was once their teacher.  
  
"Thank you, Tereda-sensei," said Tomoyo, making a small curtsy. "Thank you, Rika-chan."  
  
Rika smiled warmly. She was the first of their number to wed, and it had been quite a scandal to see their scholarly tutor of history and language to be the husband of the princess. Rika's parents had arranged the marriage two years ago when Rika turned fourteen. It had been quite a shock to see the high ranking princess wed the lesser noble, but the King and Queen thought that a scholarly husband would be a more fitting future king than an upper noble. Three months ago they officially exchanged vows at Lord Tereda's home. Both couldn't be more pleased with the arrangement, and their courtship for the last two years had been fairytale worthy. King Tiro and Queen Salvia had never been happier and neither had their daughter and her husband. Even now you could still see the sweet looks and warmth in their eyes towards each other, the warmth that would never leave until they both left this world.  
  
"Happy Birthday, Tomoyo-chan," came another female voice.  
  
Tomoyo turned to look at a girl with long brown hair, tied up in two twin braids and golden brown eyes. She wore a sea foam dress that opened up at the skirt to show off a dark green surcoat. Her sleeves were an almost ridiculous long length that opened up at her elbow to fan around her arms. A man's gloved hand held onto her green lace covered one. Tomoyo's personal knight, Takashi Yamazaki, was the one holding onto the girl's hand. He was dressed in the uniform of the Royal Guard, with a small insignia to show that he was the Princess's main guardian.  
  
"Thank you, Chiharu-chan!" Tomoyo exclaimed.  
  
"Hi, Sakura-chan," continued Chiharu. "You look pretty. Did Tomoyo-chan make it?"  
  
Sakura nodded.  
  
"Did you know that in the age of Koran, three thousand years ago, women weren't allowed to make their dresses?" Takashi stated. "In fact, it was the men that had to make them."  
  
"Hoe?" Sakura said, believing.  
  
Tomoyo smiled, while Chiharu pulled on Takashi's arm and started dragging him away to the dance floor.  
  
"The dresses were so horrible that it was said that the women revolted-"  
  
"Hai, hai," stated Chiharu.  
  
"Did they really?" asked Sakura.  
  
The group all sighed and shook their heads. Sakura was incredibly gullible sometimes. One would think that after so many years of listening to Yamazaki, she would stop believing in those lies.  
  
"I'm sure you have heard this a lot, but Happy Birthday, Tomoyo-chan," said a pretty brunette with large glasses framing her chocolate brown eyes. She wore the most conservative dress of the group, a creamy off-white cashmere with a high collar and long downy sleeves.  
  
"Thank you, Naoko-chan." More words would have been exchanged, but a young knight had asked to dance with Naoko. She smiled and drifted off with the young man. Rika and Tereda took their leave as well, leaving the young princess and sorceress alone again. "You and your father did so well, Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo stated, breaking the silence that had formed. "It really is like a fantasy world."  
  
Sakura blushed, more flowers decorating her hair. "Thank you, Tomoyo-chan."  
  
"I can't wait to see what you have planned for tomorrow's festivities! You must come, Sakura-chan! I even have a dress all ready for you."  
  
Sakura sweated and was about to comment that she was busy tomorrow, when another voice interrupted.  
  
"Good evening, Princess," came a surprisingly deep male voice.  
  
"Hoe?!" Sakura jumped in surprise, for the voice had come from behind her. She latched onto Tomoyo's arm in fear, before taking a look at the man who had given her the scare.  
  
Tomoyo was unfazed by the new comer's approached and smiled warmly, her lavender eyes surveying the man with great interest. His blue hair was unusual, but his eyes, hiding behind glass, captured her, leaving her, for once, tongue-tied. His black suit and golden adornments symbolized him as a high-ranking knight. He was not one of her own because she never forgot a face. Her hand practically itched for she wanted to draw the man. It was a challenge she was willing to take, even if she only was able to stare at his mysterious laced eyes.  
  
"My friend and I," he motioned behind him to another boy, this one with chestnut brown hair and fierce amber eyes. He wore a very expensive looking green tunic with velvet and gold chains linked here and there. He had a very domineering presence that radiated from him like light rays from the sun. "Came to wish you a Happy Birthday," he finished.  
  
Sakura looked at the man standing behind the other and immediately flushed. Her emerald eyes sought the ground and remained there, her head slightly bowed downward. She had no wish to confront the man who had helped her through the dinner. He probably thought she was extremely stupid to not know which utensils to use during a meal. Either that or he thought she was purposely doing it to gain favor. She didn't like either of those thoughts and forced herself to remain silent and humble. After all, she probably broke a half dozen court etiquette rules by looking at him during the dinner.  
  
She only realized after the dinner that she should have never even looked in that direction. He was at the high table, which meant he was most likely a prince. "Then again," thought Sakura. "You are friends with Rika and other upper nobles, so does it really make that big a difference." Her thoughts paused. "Yes," she concluded. "There's a big difference because I should have known better and he's a foreign prince. He wouldn't have known anything about my position, whatever that position is." Her thoughts warred on, barely registering anything going on around her.  
  
"Thank you very much, kind Sir," replied Tomoyo, bowing her head slightly to the blue hair man. What she would give to spend an hour with this young man! Her thoughts were cut off short as she spotted movement far to her right. She shifted her lavender eyes to the movement and her eyes suddenly clouded over. She quickly swung her gaze to Sakura, still hugging her arm and appeared to be out of it at the moment. Her eyes then flickered over in the direction of Sakura's brother, a frown forming on her face. Touya and Yukito were currently swamped by several women and would not make it to them in time.  
  
"My name is Hiiragazawa, Eriol, Princess," The man started, his eyes noticing the entire exchange. "And I was wondering if you and your friend would like to dance?" He motioned to himself and to the man behind him, who scowled darkly. Eriol smiled brightly, ignoring the murderous glare focused on him.  
  
"I would be honored, Sir Hiiragazawa," Tomoyo replied, her frown thrown away for the moment. She gently pulled her arm away from Sakura's grasp and took the offered hand of Eriol's.  
  
Sakura finally registered that Tomoyo was leaving her alone, when she felt Tomoyo's arm slip away. Sakura looked up slightly to see her friend holding the man's extend arm. Sakura tried to remain calm with her support leaving her, but she her hands were shaking nervously. She didn't want to be left alone.  
  
Eriol turned his gaze back at the other, Syaoran. "I suggest you take her to dance, before the other one coming claims her," he said, his voice heard only by Syaoran. Then Eriol led Tomoyo onto the dance floor, leaving the two behind.  
  
Syaoran's eyes widened at the comment Eriol had given him. He scanned the room, quickly focusing on a man who appeared to make a beeline straight for Sakura. His amber eyes narrowed slightly at recognition of the man. He remembered the slight exchange between Sakura and the man, and he was disgusted with him. That man was filth and even a poor sorceress didn't deserve that thing. He turned his gaze to the sorceress, who had her head down again and was playing with her hands. He really didn't want to dance, but he was decent enough to not leave her to the slug. He grumbled slightly and extended his hand to her in invitation.  
  
Sakura saw the hand come towards her, palm up, through her bangs. She raised her head slightly trying to gauge what he was thinking. His eyes, however, were not on her but on something else. She turned her green eyes in his direction to see Baron Taitsu heading her way. Without a second thought she took Syaoran's extended hand.  
  
He glanced down at her, the emerald eyes fixed on him. He had seen her look in the direction of the man, and the look of loathing was all he needed to know that the sorceress did not want to be left alone to that man. His warm hand clasped securely around Sakura's cold one, and led her onto the dance floor, leaving behind a fuming baron.  
  
~~ ~~  
  
Queen Yelan was about to give up on her son, when she saw Eriol "lure" Syaoran off to the Princess Daidouji. "Interesting," she muttered. Her black-brown eyes surveyed the scene with mild curiosity. It was clear that Syaoran didn't want to be there, but what was Eriol getting at? Her eyebrows shot into her hair when she noticed that Xiao Lang was asking, more like demanding, a dance from the girl who had been clinging to the Princess.  
  
This was an event in history! No matter how hard she pushed to get her son, he never asked any female to dance before. He was typically the one forced to dance by either her or the courtesans themselves. She studied the girl carefully, trying to decide what had caught her son's eye. She was pretty, but the prettiest girls in the entire kingdom never mattered to her son. The young girl had a warring of emotions that flashed in her stroll with her son. She seemed determined and relieved to be lead away from her spot on the sidelines but she also seemed very reluctant to want to actually dance.  
  
The young girl tilted her head towards her son's direction and she finally was able to see the girl's face more clearly. "Emerald eyes?" Yelan sighed. It finally made some sense why Syaoran would pick that girl. Green was his favorite color, after all, and it tended to sway his opinion very readily. However, a small sparkling glint caught her interest far more than the girl's rare eye color. The young girl was a sorceress. If the eyes hadn't won over her son, the star pendant certainly would have. So the girl was the presence she had felt continuously at the palace since she arrived. She could barely make out the faint pink aura that surrounded the young girl, which must have been suppressed greatly to make such a low frequency. One would have missed the aura if they weren't looking for it specifically on her.  
  
Yelan pulled her gaze from the sorceress, absently smoothing the folds of her blue silk dress. She really did not like these corset clothing, but Queen Sonomi was one all about fashion. She was thankful that after tonight, she could wear the more traditional robes of her people. The night is young, however, and Yelan willed time to speed up faster so that she could get out of this annoying outfit.  
  
"Yelan, dear?" The soft voice of Sonomi called to her friend and ally.  
  
Yelan smiled and faced the other queen. "Yes?"  
  
"I would like you to meet my vizier, Kinomoto, Fujitaka." Sonomi, wearing a bright royal red dress, motioned a hand to a man standing over her shoulder. The man wore black robes and a star pendant was held on a chain around his neck.  
  
"A pleasure to meet you, Queen Yelan," came the soft voice. His brown eyes and hair were just as soft as his voice. A shimmery brown aura surrounded the man, which confirmed her earlier assessments. He was a very powerful illusionary mage. She also felt the strong tug of the Earth around him as well.  
  
Yelan nodded her head graciously to the man as he kissed her hand and bowed elegantly. "A mutual accepted meeting, I assure you, Kinomoto-sensei." 


	4. First Dance

Author notes: Yes, Sakura's father was a teacher, but I will explain that more later on in the story. Sorry for the few updates, but at home it's really hard to get a bit of quiet time to type. I'll be heading back to school soon and there will definitely be more updates, as well as being able to notify people of my updates. Gomen gomen. Also look forward to a few more of my stories (Has 15 new stories to write about). ^.^;;;;;;  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own cardcaptor sakura.  
  
Chapter 4  
  
"You should look up more," Syaoran stated, his amber eyes gazing over the bent head of his dancing partner. He winced slightly when she stepped on his foot. "It would keep you from stepping on my toes."  
  
Sakura looked up, embarrassed. "Gomen nasai! I'm not an avid dancer."  
  
He glanced down at her, surprise clearly showing on his face. "The sorceress cannot dance?"  
  
"Hoe?!" Sakura backed up slightly, but Syaoran's strong arms pulled her back in.  
  
"Keep dancing," he mumbled, his eyes averted from the emerald orbs.  
  
Sakura complied, but was now looking at Syaoran with challenging eyes. How he knew she had magic was beyond her, but the fact that he practically ordered her to keep dancing, annoyed her. Who gave him the right to tell her what to do? He was not her father. In fact, as she recalled, he practically demanded to dance with her. If the baron hadn't been there, she would have refused. She sighed. No she wouldn't have.  
  
"What was that for?" asked Syaoran.  
  
She had almost forgot he was there, and thus she jumped slightly at the sound of his voice. "Nan demo nai. I have a question though."  
  
"Aa?"  
  
"How did you know that I'm a sorceress?"  
  
Syaoran couldn't help but roll his eyes. How dumb could this girl get? She's wearing the star in the middle of her forehead for goodness sake! "The pendant on your forehead," he said shortly. He was already beginning to regret the help he offered her during dinner and the dance. She had to be completely brain dead to not know about the pendant on her forehead. It was in clear view, that you could not miss it unless you were blind.  
  
Sakura smiled. "I forgot Tomoyo-chan put it there." Amusement lingered in her voice. She had completely forgotten about it. Then again with Tomoyo and her little tirades, it wasn't hard to see why. "How do you know what it means?"  
  
Syaoran looked down, slightly taken aback. One minute she seems like she's going to explode in anger and the next sweet as a kitten. She was an enigma and apparently a walking contradiction. So maybe she wasn't that dense if she knew most people have no idea what the star meant. "My family has magic," he replied. He paused for a moment before adding, "As do most people in my country."  
  
"Hoe?!" Sakura almost screeched.  
  
"What now?!" He snapped back at her. He continued to lead her through the crowd of dancers, ignoring some of the looks he was receiving.  
  
"I just realized who you are," she answered, her voice filled with awe.  
  
"Don't let it get to your head," he grumbled back.  
  
Sakura's eyes narrowed slightly. "Actually, I was thinking that I shouldn't be dancing with you, but now I wish I hadn't accepted."  
  
Syaoran looked down to see the blazing eyes. He had wounded her with that comment, but how? He continued to study the girl, her emerald eyes swirling with emotions. He noticed then that there was a definite lining of sadness in her gaze. He let go of one of her hands and spun Sakura around before continuing to move.  
  
Sakura was thankful for the reprieve in the spin. His gaze had been starting to unnerve her. When she returned into his grasp, she found that he was still looking at her in a calculating way. She had obviously caught him off guard with her comment, and she grinned inwardly at the small victory. Her eyes clouded slightly and breaking the tense silence, mumbled, "You should be dancing with someone of a higher rank nonetheless, Prince Li."  
  
He definitely was caught off guard with that comment and actually tripped up on his steps. Hopefully no one noticed that the usually composed, closed- off prince was actually in a war with this dazzling young sorceress. He had no idea what to expect she would say, and that made her fascinating and annoying at the same time. "I don't care much for the ladies of higher rank. They tend to be monotonous and similar to each other."  
  
Sakura giggled slightly, her mood changing swiftly. "Tomoyo-chan says that a lot about men of her rank. Is it a natural reaction for royals to detest others of the same rank?"  
  
Syaoran smiled slightly as he pondered the question. "Yes," he said bluntly.  
  
Gales of laughter came from Sakura. She couldn't believe he actually said that! He was definitely nothing like what Touya said royals were like. Sure he was arrogant, rude, haughty, and annoying, but he could also be kind, dignified, and blunt honest. Oh, and of course, he is really handsome, but she avoided that subject entirely, for the moment.  
  
Syaoran couldn't help but smile a little more. Her laughter was contagious. He spun her out into another spin, her pink skirts unfurling like a blooming carnation. Several more flowers from the ceiling were now decorating her hair and clothing. His first thought was that she never looked more like a dryad. "I take it that you are the one 'controlling' the flowers," he stated, as she returned into his embrace.  
  
Sakura continued to giggle slightly as she nodded her head in response. "I can't say that Flowery listens very well."  
  
Syaoran's eyes widened slightly. Did he just hear that correctly? The word flowery was in a foreign tongue that most in his country didn't speak anymore. Could that mean? No it couldn't be true. The cards created by Clow Reed were destroyed over a hundred and fifty years ago in the Great War. Syaoran shook off the thoughts as he saw the girl redden slightly. "She looks like she just told her deepest, darkest secret," mused Syaoran. "Well, I guess falling flowers are not the easiest magic to control," he stated aloud. "After all, I've had to knock some of them out of my hair too."  
  
Sakura sighed with relief, he hadn't seemed to pick up on her slip, and she smiled again. She thought the flowers looked charming in his chestnut hair, and he looked particularly adorable when he tried to get them off. "Hoe?!" she thought. "I can't be thinking that way!" She bit the inside of her lip and pushed away those thoughts. "Gomen nasai. I'm not very good at keeping the spells from annoying fellow mages," she remarked aloud.  
  
He nodded imperceptibly. She just contradicted herself. She had said that she couldn't get Flowery to listen and then goes on to say that she can't control the spell well. What spell? Syaoran decided that his head hurt too much to think about that and continued to dance. "This song seems to last forever," he muttered. Only when he realized the girl was laughing again did he realize he said that out loud.  
  
"You did realize that this is the Kousetsu Yume, which has been known to last longer than ten minutes."  
  
Syaoran's eyes widened. "This is the music to that?! Kuso!"  
  
"It's Tomoyo's favorite song. When your friend asked her to dance the orchestra planned to perform that number."  
  
"Splendid. How long do you think this one will last?"  
  
"Trying to get rid of me already?"  
  
"Iie, I just don't know how long my feet are going to last."  
  
"I thought princes would be able to dance for hours on end," Sakura giggled out.  
  
"We don't like to." He pulled her close for a few sashay steps at the quickened pace of the music. He noticed that Sakura followed easily. "Not an avid dancer?"  
  
"Yes. I have only dance a few times and they are usually with onii-chan and his best friend. Though I tend to step on onii-chan's feet a lot." She smiled weakly, leaving off the fact that she stepped on Touya's feet on purpose.  
  
Syaoran noticed the music slowing and realized the song was coming to an end. He spun her again, slowing down the spin and movement of the dance. Sakura followed with the ease of an experienced courtesan. He knew she wasn't one, but she never ceased to amaze him at the things she could do. He bowed as the last cord struck.  
  
Sakura spread her skirts slightly in a very elegant curtsy. She ruined the effect by grinning like a little girl who just found the most amazing thing. In a sense she had for this was the first curtsy she had made without falling over. She took Syaoran's extended hand and rose gracefully.  
  
Eriol and Tomoyo made their way over to them, both smiling at the scene. They had spent most of the dance eyeing Sakura and Syaoran. Tomoyo, continuously kept signaling the conductor to keep going, lengthening the normal eight-minute song to fifteen. Eriol, on the other hand, made sure to keep them close to the unsuspecting couple without alerting them of their presence.  
  
"Did you enjoy the dance, Sakura-chan?" asked Tomoyo.  
  
"Hai, Tomoyo-chan. Though it seemed a bit longer than I remember," replied Sakura, a bit thoughtful.  
  
Tomoyo and Eriol averted their eyes away from the oblivious sorceress, while Syaoran eyed the pair carefully. They did something, he was sure of it, but kept his thoughts to himself. The group turned to walk off the dance floor, before they paused to see what lay before them.  
  
A group of several young women were waiting for Eriol and Syaoran to come off and change partners. They were a rambunctious group, pushing each other slightly trying to catch the eye of one of the two males. Eriol and Syaoran sweat dropped clinging a little more to the women they escorted.  
  
Tomoyo noticed her fair share of males waiting to 'rescue' the birthday princess from the hands of the 'enemy'. She didn't really mind the attention, but she didn't want a large crowd around her. After all, she wanted to see more kawaii moments of Sakura with her 'prince charming'. She decided to ignore the fact that she didn't want to give up Eriol to horde of girls waiting for them.  
  
Sakura, on the other hand, was contemplating running away. Several girls looked ready to kill her. She of course understood because she really shouldn't have danced with the prince in the first place. After all, a prince has to marry a princess not plain ol', rank-less Sakura. She knew they were in the right to be angry.  
  
Baron Taitsu was also waiting for her. He looked positively livid, and was sending the prince the darkest looks she had ever seen. Each time his gaze fell on her the same look remained, but a spark of something more was held there. She shrunk back slightly trying to ignore the way the baron's eyes roamed over her body in a possessive manner.  
  
To make matters worse, Sakura also noted that her brother was free from the women, which was not good. She noted that Yukito's hand was firmly placed on Touya's shoulder preventing him from running out to kill Syaoran. She was thankful to have Yukito keep her brother in line. After all, Sakura doubted the nobles would like a fight in the ballroom.  
  
Syaoran, Eriol, Tomoyo, and Sakura exchanged glances with each other. Without another thought, all four teens turned around and headed back onto the dance floor as the next dance started. The crowd behind them remained where they were, but if etiquette hadn't been important, the four would have been buried alive by the crowd.  
  
They stood in a square, their hands towards the middle and their partners across. They walked in a circle to the beat of the string attempting to ignore the attention they were gathering.  
  
~~ ~~  
  
Touya Kinomoto was ready to kill. He could not believe the gall of the foreign prince dancing with his little sister, not just once but twice! He moved away from the pillar, only to feel the strong hold upon his shoulder. He shot a cold glare at his best friend, whose hand was holding his shoulder.  
  
Yukito Tsukishiro was smiling, his eyes closed so that he didn't see the glare directed at him. He knew it was there, he could feel the power of it radiating at him, but he didn't care. Touya was always over protective of his little sister, who was not so little anymore. Thankfully, he had enough strength to hold Touya in place, for tonight was not a good time to tick off the Queen. Tonight was the princess's time and thus anything that went wrong would be hell to pay come morning. Touya would do well to be more restrained considering that Prince Li saved Sakura from Baron Taitsu.  
  
"Then again," mused Yukito, "the prince may prove useful." Another voice inside Yukito's head grunted in agreement, but did not comment. Yukito sighed. He really wished Yue would be more talkative, like himself, and maybe more enlightening. Yue only ever told him a few concise orders and then kept everything else to himself. Yukito, however, was thankful that he could at least sense some things that his true form neglected to say.  
  
For instance, the prince had extreme powers in magic, though less than his smiling friend. This would be important because Yukito could sense the unrest of Yue. For weeks he had been brooding about Sakura's lack of power outside the cards. If anything, he seemed to become increasingly uneasy. Something was going to happen, that much was sure, but once again he was left out of the loop.  
  
Touya grumbled. "Yuki."  
  
Yukito pulled himself from his thoughts to look into the dark brown eyes of Touya. He actually thought that Touya looked very handsome when he was annoyed or deep in thought. At this moment though, Touya looked slightly worried almost as if he thought he had lost something very precious to him. "Yes, Tou-ya?"  
  
"Let go. I won't kill the gaki."  
  
Yukito raised an eyebrow, losing his smile. "Really?" His hand still remained on Touya's shoulder, refusing to budge.  
  
Touya sighed and nodded his head. He felt the grip leave his shoulder and he sagged against the post next to his friend.  
  
"Are you all right, Touya?"  
  
"I guess. I just always thought I would be able to protect her from people like that gaki."  
  
Yukito smiled. "She is growing up into a fine young lady and as her brother, I can see where you are coming from. However, do you think it is wise to isolate her from people you don't approve of? We all wish to protect her, but she's going to revolt eventually. She needs room to burn her flame and I think we smother too frequently."  
  
Touya sighed again. "Still, I will get rid of that gaki along with Taitsu."  
  
"I don't think so," started Yukito. "I have a feeling that Prince Li will be hard to get rid of once he has a taste of Sakura's love of life."  
  
"We'll see," brooded Touya. "We'll see."  
  
~~ ~~  
  
Queen Yelan was observing the four with growing curiosity. Her son not only danced once with the girl, but was now going for an encore. To make it even more interesting, he appeared to be enjoying himself. The square parted and fast pace movements allowed the two girls to changed partners with one another. She noted with amusement that Syaoran's gaze remained transfixed on the sorceress dancing with Eriol.  
  
"It appears that my daughter is enjoying herself," came the soft voice of Fujitaka. His eyes were watching the group move back together into a square slowing the pace with the music.  
  
Yelan glanced at the sorcerer. "The one in the dusky rose dress is your daughter?"  
  
Fujitaka smiled. "Aa, your highness. Kinomoto, Sakura."  
  
Yelan rolled the name in her mind. "Ying Fa," she mumbled to herself. "She is quite pretty, Kinomoto-sensei. Very much like her mother in spirit." Her eyes trained on the smiling girl. "And very powerful for her age," she thought. She could sense the faint hint of the girl's aura and the pressure of the held down power. This meant she was suppressing her aura a great deal and there was no doubt in her mind where her ancestor's legendary cards ended up.  
  
Fujitaka nodded. "Hai. Nadeshiko's love of life is very much a part of my daughter. How is your errant son?"  
  
Yelan frowned slightly. "I'm afraid he is still the same, though far colder in emotion. Tonight he seems more like he was when he was younger. It is a nice change of pace."  
  
Fujitaka nodded. He remembered all too well how the young prince had been. That was a long time ago when Sakura was only five. People tended to change over time, and the innocence of that age would only carry a person so far.  
  
"She has definitely caught the eye of my son, though I assume he doesn't realize that yet," commented Yelan. "He is trying to mask his emotions, but seems to be failing whenever your daughter is near." At this moment, Sakura and Syaoran were dancing together. Sakura was in gales of laughter, her cheeks rosy with merriment and exertion. Syaoran was more relaxed than he usually is dancing, and there was definitely a glint of humor in his eyes. Yelan was almost certain she also saw the faint hint of a smile upon her son's face.  
  
Fujitaka watched his daughter carefully, but as usual she appeared to be her usual cheery self. "It's a wonder that Sakura-chan prefers solitude when she seems so happy in the presence of others."  
  
Yelan nodded her head slightly. "Xiao Lang is the same way. Sometimes you have to get an army to drag him out of his shell."  
  
The two adults laughed slightly at the comment. Sakura and Syaoran were practically cut from the same mold and it was amusing to find how many similarities they had to each other. They would make an interesting impression on the world and together, they would possibly be unforgettable. 


	5. Dawn

Author notes: A number of you wanted to be notified of my updates so I have a list now. It is listed at ccs... and I hope there aren't more of those. ^.^;;; (http://members.notifylist.com/edit/joinlist) If you have any problems, email me at cherrypie_ksk@yahoo.com Here's a nice long chapter of nothingness... ^.^;; enjoy.  
  
Chapter 5  
  
Sakura yawned, stretching her arms above her head, grazing the small hands against the head-board. The room was bathed in a soft light from the rising sun outside. Her normally closed window stood open, allowing the gentle breeze of morning to filter through the room. She gently rubbed her emerald eyes, stifling a small yawn. She brushed a few strands of hair from her face and groggily glanced around her room.  
  
The room was devoid of clutter as well as possessions. A dresser made of oak stood against the wall in front of her bed. A mirror was upon it, showing the waking young girl in a pink shift. Her ivory colored wash basin was set upon the smooth oak surface of the dresser with a small rag and bar of soap placed beside it. A small vanity chair stationed in front of the dresser held a larger towel for drying. To her right was a door that held her fairly extensive wardrobe, courtesy of Tomoyo. To her left was her small circular window about the size of a large dinner platter, though it went unnoticed by the girl that the window was ajar. There were no curtains, for her room was on the third floor of the palace. Several mounds of books were found upon the rounded bay window seat. Then there was the bed, she currently sat in, which was covered in a pink blanket. There were no posts or curtains for they were used strictly for the upper nobles. The room, overall, was barely better than some of the upper servants, whom usually had dirt floors and lived on the first floor, but Sakura loved it anyway.   
  
Sakura pulled off the warm pink blanket and stepped into the cool air of the room. The stone floor was cold upon her bare feet, and again she wished she had a rug like Tomoyo had in her room. She shivered slightly, the cool breeze drifting in from the open window, as she stepped towards the water basin. She reached her hands into the water and quickly splashed some water on her face. A screech of surprise followed. "Itai! Atsui! Atsui!" The water was hot, which it never was when she woke up. "Hoe?! I must have slept in really late if they changed out the water!"  
  
She reluctantly sat down and more carefully cleaned herself with the hot water, rag, and soap. "Kero-chan's going to be angry at me for sleeping in this late." She scrubbed her face, her voice muffled by the rag as she mimicked the guardian beast's tirades. Little did the sorceress realize that the sun was barely over the horizon. It was just after the crack of dawn and for Sakura to be up was something unheard of.   
  
Sakura smiled as she dried her face, reflecting on last night's festivities. Tomoyo had looked ready to burst with happiness. It was her part of her birthday celebration, but Sakura suspected that the radiant personality of her best friend was mostly due to Sir Hiiragazawa. Sakura giggled at the thought of Tomoyo pawning about because of two dances with the foreign knight. Well, at least it was two while she had been there to monitor her friend. After the second dance with Prince Li, Sakura bid her company good night and disappeared out of the room posthaste. Needless to say the two men were highly surprised considering that it was only half past ten o'clock.  
  
Sakura, however, needed time to herself before going to bed. Okay so she really only wanted to escape the tension filled ballroom. It also didn't help that her brother looked like he would kill her if she decided to stick around another hour. Sometimes he was too overprotective of her. After all, last night she avoided the horrible baron without his help. A triumphant smirk crossed her features as she pondered how to use that tidbit against her brother. He couldn't save her all the time, and she proved to him last night that she didn't need his help. She decided to ignore the fact that Tomoyo played a role in her rescue, and she especially tried to forget about her 'rescuer', Prince Li. She realized too late, however, that is was very difficult to get the pair of amber eyes out of her head.  
  
She sighed and traveled over to her closet. She had a difficult time trying to figure out the prince during her short time with him. He seemed to have many faces, but tended to remain in his cold, emotionless mask. "Though, he did have a hard time trying to remain that way whenever I was around," Sakura grinned at the thought. She sighed longingly. If only there was a man like that within her grasp, but alas she had to enjoy the company of a prince. It must have been fate's way of getting even. Give power, take away love.  
  
She pulled open the door and stepped into a miniature room draped in clothing. There were several racks inside the wardrobe coordinated by usage. Ball and court dresses to the far right, ceremonial clothes after that, some clothes from her card captor days, dresses and everyday clothing, and lastly robes and 'male' clothing closest to the door. Sadly, this room was only half of the clothing that Tomoyo had made for her. Sakura dragged a finder along the rack of robes. She pulled out an electric blue robe from the closet and closed the door behind her. A slight shudder ran down her spine at all the clothing in there. She would have been glad if Queen Sonomi banned Tomoyo from her sewing, but since Sonomi was so fond of her cousin, she was out of luck. She pulled out of her shift, her thoughts still focused on the prince.   
  
He had appeared to be somewhat interested in her, but that was most likely due to the fact that she had magic. It's not everyday you meet another mage at a court function, especially one so close to the royal family. Then again magic wasn't a rarity in his home land so that wouldn't make him that interested. There was something she was missing that would explain why his eyes burned into hers demanding her life story. Okay, so maybe she was exaggerating a bit... a lot, but she really wanted to know what made him talk to her. Maybe it had do with meeting a sorceress outside the bounds of his kingdom. "That must be it," she thought.   
  
She pulled her robes on over her head. There was a large silver star embroidered on the back, below a small hood. Small stars decorated the edges of the large downy sleeves, the hem of the robes, and the hood. She carefully opened the closet door again, pulling out matching felt-tip boots, and then placing them on her small feet. She took a seat in front of her mirror, and carefully made two small pig-tails in her short honey-brown hair, each tied off with matching blue ribbons. What would she do without Tomoyo around making her outfits and accessories? Probably dressed in men's clothing, which she thought were the next most comfortable attire to robes. The whole castle would be scandalized if they saw her dressed like that.  
  
She yawned taking a quick once-over look at her attire. Today she had been slower than her usual hustle and bustle, but what was the point when she was this late anyway. No doubt Cerberous would be having a fit at her tardiness, and would soon send out the guards to see if the card mistress still lived. Then a thought struck her. She had a meeting this morning with several other important wizards, and her father expected her to be on time. "Hoe?! Mou..." Sakura slid her star back on its original chain and raced out of her room. She was going to be in so much trouble this time.  
  
She moved quickly, not noticing that the halls of the palace were vacant of life. Out of breath she burst into the first room of the north tower. No one was there and no light was lit in the room. "Hoe? Where is everyone?" She groaned, thinking she was so late that they had already left. She sighed and moved out of the room. "Now what?" she mumbled. Her eyes suddenly glowed with an idea. "The training facility!"  
  
She made her way down the vacant hallway, eventually realizing that no one was around. A sharp chill cascaded down her spine as she stopped to look around. There was only the deafening silence that surrounded her being. She shuddered and began to walk again, her steps quickened to a fast trot. She was afraid of ghosts and it didn't help that Tomoyo once told her how they loved to wander the halls during the hours no one was about. Sounds to her right scared her to death and Sakura fled out of the palace, into the back gardens.   
  
She took a few cleansing breaths, thankful for her reprieve, in the cool morning air. She hated ghosts and being alone did nothing to ease her suffering. It took several minutes before her breathing was back under control and she was able to take a look at her surroundings. The sun was barely over the horizon to the east, and a gentle fog was beginning to lift. Dew was sprinkled on the plants, revealing the fact that it was still early in the morning. The sweet scented air proclaimed the opening of the flowers, and the soft twittering sounds of the birds announced dawn.   
  
Sakura took a moment to digest what she was seeing. She was up at dawn? She never woke this early! Her eyes glazed over as her mouth hung open trying to comprehend how she was awake this early. Sure she was well rested, for once, and the morning was very pretty, but this seemed to be a bad omen to her. She was not an early bird, thus something in the world had gone off kilter. Maybe she was still dreaming. She pinched her arm to make sure. The sharp pain told her she was not dreaming.  
  
A sound to her left, drew her attention at once. Someone was up and insane enough to be outside at this hour. She didn't give any thought to what kind of person could be up at this hour when she started to make her way towards the sound. She weaved quickly out of the garden, listening like a deer. At the rise in the hill that overlooked the training fields just beyond the gardens, she paused to get her bearings. A little distance from her stood a young man practicing with a sword.   
  
She could tell that this was not one of the palace guards, for the all practiced inside the building to the distant right of the field before her. This one, however, practiced near the western edge of the gardens just on the edge of the training area. His white shirt hung open, showing off his nicely formed chest and stomach which appeared to be tanned from this distance. This meant that he normally trained without a shirt in the sunlight, another reason he was not in the royal guard. He wore dark green pants and matching boots, that seemed well weathered from training.   
  
At a slight turn in his movements, Sakura's breath caught. Chestnut brown hair, matted down slightly from practice, and soul searching amber eyes told her clearly who she was seeing. Prince Li?! Sakura was in a state of shock and wonder. What was he doing up so early? She had come to the conclusion that most royals were late risers, or at least never left their room till breakfast. Even most of the Daidouji kingdom were late risers, though Sakura still topped the list as latest riser.   
  
Sakura panicked, her eyes wide with something akin to fear. She had never interrupted anyone in their training and she wasn't about to start. To her dismay, she continued to stare wide-eyed at the prince, her legs refusing to budge. Her mind screamed for her to run before he realized she was there, but the signal never passed to her legs. A moment later those amber eyes looked up to lock with her own. "Too late," muttered Sakura, her voice a mere growl.  
  
~~ ~~  
  
Syaoran sensed the aura long before the person appeared. He knew who it was, and his brows furrowed with annoyance. He had a slight taste of the aura yesterday evening in a more dampened form, but apparently the owner didn't care about it at this time. Not surprising since most people in the palace were asleep, but still highly unorthodox. Thus, the aura could belong to none other than the sorceress. Princess Tomoyo had been all too eager to tell him that her name was Sakura Kinomoto, the daughter of the vizier Fujitaka Kinomoto.   
  
Syaoran barely recalled Mr. Kinomoto teaching him magic, since he was only six at the time. He did remember that he continuously ditched classes, and that was how he met a girl around his age wandering in the gardens. Apparently, she was avoiding the same person he was and they became fast friends. It turned out to be a very short lived friendship, much to his frustration. He still remembered that one spring day he went to meet her and she never showed up. She had just disappeared. After that, Syaoran buried himself into books and training, deciding that ditching wasn't worth the punishments anymore.  
  
He shook his head from the thoughts. He shouldn't think of that anymore. It was in the past. He turned his mind back to the current situation of how to deal with his 'guest.' He seriously hoped that she would go away, but after a minute of her presence he couldn't take it anymore. He paused in his training, lowering his sword, then shot a glare to the sorceress. He swiftly caught her gaze and attempted to ascertain what was going through her head. In short, he determined that she looked guilty similar to one who had been caught sticking her hand into the cookie jar. He sighed. She looked too paralyzed to move, which meant he would have to talk to her so he could get rid of her. After she was gone then and only then would he get back to his training.   
  
He had never liked spectators. His cousin Meiling had turned him off from it and made a great note to practice alone, away from others. He preferred his solitude anyway, so he made sure he was always alone. He noted that Sakura still hadn't moved a muscle, her jaw dropped slightly in surprise.   
  
He broke eye contract, sighed in annoyance, and laid down his sword in the soft grass. He picked up a small brown cloak that was on the ground next to his sword. He pulled it on, hooking the small clasp securely around his neck area. He didn't want to wear it since he was over warm from training, but he didn't need to further fluster the paralyzed girl. He left his practice sword and water flask on the ground there, and then carefully made his way over to the frozen sorceress.  
  
~~ ~~  
  
Sakura's eyes widened. "He's coming! What do I do?! What do I say?! 'Yeah, gomen nasai for disturbing you. I was looking for my father and running from ghosts.'" Sakura groaned. "As if that would work." Less than ten feet away from her, Sakura did what she did best... "Ohayo gozaimasu, Prince Li," she called as she smiled and waved her hand in greeting. She had small sweat beads upon her forehead and was now mentally kicking herself. "Genius," mumbled her brain.  
  
Syaoran faltered in his steps. "Ohayo," he muttered in reply, before continuing on his path to Sakura.  
  
Sakura bowed her head. "Gomen nasai. I didn't mean to disturb you."  
  
Syaoran stopped a few feet away from the sorceress. He glanced back down at his stuff before turning back to Sakura and shrugging his shoulders slightly. "It's okay. What are you doing up so early?"  
  
Sakura shrugged, her hands behind her back, fidgeting nervously. "No idea. This is the first morning I've been up before noon, from my own accord."  
  
Syaoran couldn't help but smile a little. The sorceress had a very naive, innocent, and blunt nature. If that comment had come from anyone else, he would have thought they were brain dead.  
  
"Ne, Li-sama? How was training going?"  
  
"Fine."  
  
"Are you normally up this early?"  
  
"Aa."  
  
"Well, I better go then so you can continue unhindered by my presence. Good-"  
  
"What do you have planned for the morning?" Syaoran wanted to kill himself there. What in the world was he thinking? He wanted to get rid of her not keep her.  
  
"Eh?" Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. "Umm... I have a meeting later around the tenth hour, I think."  
  
"That's four hours away," he said, his voice thoughtful for a moment as he tried to comprehend what he wanted to ask.  
  
"Soka... ne, you want to take a walk then, Li-sama?"  
  
Syaoran looked at her in surprise. Did she read minds? He had no idea what to say to that. Should he go walk or train? Better yet, should he go with her or stay and be found easily by family members?  
  
Sakura looked a little crestfallen when there was a hesitation from the prince. "It's okay if you don't-" she stated, hurriedly only to be cut off again by Syaoran.  
  
"No, I would like to talk with you... more. A walk sounds... nice."  
  
"Eh? Really?"  
  
"Aa."  
  
Sakura jumped for joy. She reached out and grabbed the prince's hand, much to his surprise and slight discomfort. It took her a moment to realize what she had done and she quickly let go. "Gomen!" Her face was scarlet with embarrassment.  
  
He decided to ignore the incident and moved to walk along the path with her. The air grew thick with tension, drawing both persona into silence. Finally, he had to break it or go mad. "Have you always lived here?" asked Syaoran.  
  
Sakura was slightly surprised at the random comment, but took it in stride to cover up the awkward start. "I don't think so. My father once told me of where we used to live before my mother died. I vaguely remember things, but I was only five at the time. Touya, my brother, would remember. He's almost nine years older than I am."  
  
"Did your father teach you magic?"  
  
"Hai, though I'm not a very good student, I'm afraid." She frowned slightly. "I can't seem to to do any spells higher than the primary stage. I fear I've become a disappointment to him, as well as a frustrating enigma."'  
  
"Do you know why you can't get passed the early stages?" Syaoran was confused beyond comprehension. The power of her aura had told Eriol and himself that she had to be very powerful, but how could she not use any of it? There must be something sealing off her powers, but what? A curse might have this effect, but he sensed no decrease of her power which was a typical side effect. Possibly a seal on her magic to dampen her magical output might do the trick, but here again there were discrepancies. Lack of training? A good possibility since only her father taught her.  
  
"I'm not entirely sure. I have the potential to do higher magic, but otou-san says that they are locked up somehow. Also, my aura shouldn't be as big as it is, if it's sealed like everyone says." She sighed looking over at the lavender bushes, the purple bushels of flowers in full bloom. "You have a strong green aura, Li-sama. Your friend from last night had a stronger blue one, and he was suppressing it a lot too."  
  
"You can see my aura?" Syaoran asked surprised. Syaoran dragged his gaze from the roses to his left to look at the vacant, thoughtful expression of the sorceress. "Not many people can see the particular colors of the auras. Hiiragazawa and myself are one of the few people in Maho who can. Even the elders are not very well trained in the art. Elemental mirrors are used most of the time to see the different colors."  
  
Sakura nodded her head. "I know. Otou-san told me that only a few mages can sense the presence of a magical aura and even fewer can tell the color. Supposedly, my greatest strength lies in the stars because of my pink color. What power is your's based on?"  
  
"Earth," he muttered. "She's smarter than she lets on," he thought, glancing back towards the gardens.   
  
"That's pretty powerful," she mumbled in response.  
  
"I am surprised that the elders do not know about you. Your potential magic would be enough to disrupt them in their scryings," Syaoran grumbled, pulling the attention away from himself. As a future king with magical powers, he was expected to do a lot because of the elders. Eriol was in a worse state then himself because he was the partial reincarnation of Clow Reed, Syaoran's ancestor. Clow Reed was known as the most powerful of all wizards in all of time, and thus Eriol was expected to carry on that legacy, much to his distaste. This stress caused Eriol to create two of his own guardians to get rid of the elders. It worked... kind of.  
  
The real question was why the elders didn't know about Sakura? Or maybe they did, but kept it quiet. So what were they hiding? They had gone out of their way to tell his mother that there was no powerful sorceress around to make a suitable wife for him. This had been the main reason why he was getting pushed into marring his cousin, Meiling. However, Meiling had barely any magical powers at all. Syaoran suspected that the elders wanted his cousin because she was easy to control to their whims. He didn't trust the elders much and here proved one of these instances: walking beside a potentially powerful, female mage, and the elders never mentioned her. Why?   
  
It took him a moment before he realized that Sakura had her hands in front of Syaoran's face trying to get his attention again. "Nan de?"  
  
"I was asking you if the Elders were bad people. You seem slightly annoyed whenever they are mentioned," Sakura stated, her emerald eyes brimming with concern.   
  
Syaoran paused in mid-step wondering how to describe the elders. "They are not bad, per say, just persistent, annoying, non-conformable, pessimistic, controlling, haughty..." Syaoran stopped in his tirade hearing a loud noise erupt beside him. He soon realized that the young sorceress was laughing, her melodious voice rising into the air. "You think this is funny?" he snapped.  
  
Sakura shook her head, trying to hold in her laughter. She couldn't trust herself to talk with her body still shaking with suppressed giggles.  
  
"What?" he demanded, his voice changing to one of high authority.  
  
"It's just... your face... so angry..." she gasped. She wasn't making much sense at all as she struggled to overcome her laughter. "And... you... looked... want... kill... elders."  
  
Syaoran's mouth twitched as he stood there watching her. He refused to laugh, but was having a very difficult time. Her face was slightly red from lack of air, and small tears welled up in her eyes. He had a vague idea why she was laughing, but her random words were jumbled up. "I would," he said, his voice serious.  
  
It was like a bucket of ice cold water was tossed on her. Her laughter died as did her smile. He sounded serious about that and she had no doubt he probably meant what he said. "Why?" she breathed.  
  
"The Elders were established into political control when my father passed away. The people did not believe that my mother would do the job justice being a woman. Needless to say, they are tyrannical in nature, but too many respect them. They have so much respect, that they have more power than they should." Syaoran's tone of voice was harsh and cold. He was very bitter towards the council in many ways. One main reason was how they went out of their way to exploit other magical users, just for entertainment. The other main reason was for how they treated his mother.  
  
"Gomen," Sakura whispered. She had never seen such cold hate from a person, and here she stood with a fellow mage, who held more conviction in those words than in her entire being. She nodded sadly. "That's not a fair way to live. It's not easy always having to consult to a group in order to make decisions. It must be difficult."  
  
"It is," mumbled Syaoran. He hadn't meant to snap at the poor girl, after all she was only trying to keep him company. He turned his direction towards the path ahead, where he noticed that it forked off into several directions.  
  
"Would you like to see the orchards?" prompted Sakura, back to her lively self, throwing Syaoran for a loop. "Or more of the gardens?"  
  
He wanted more time away from the palace before being stuck with shrill courtesans, an annoying 'friend,' and a glowering mother.   
  
"The orchards are a bit of a walk from here," started Sakura. She actually really loved the orchards, but not all of the nobility shared her views. They preferred the gentle rise and falling path through the wide arrangement of flowers. The gardens were also a lot more beautiful to look at too, but right now most of the trees were in full bloom, especially the cherry trees, making it a petal wonderland.  
  
"The orchards," Syaoran said quickly. A bit of a walk, meant more time to be killed.  
  
Sakura smiled and motioned to a path to their left. There they continued in a light conversation with Sakura pointing out specific plants and landmarks. Occasionally, Syaoran stepped in to correct anything she said wrong. 


	6. Alike and Yet

Author notes: A number of you wanted to be notified of my updates so I have a list now. It is listed at Tekimai-ccs... (). If you have any problems, email me at cherrypie_ksk@yahoo.com For all you Tomoyo & Eriol Fans, this is your chapter. I haven't forgotten about any of my ficts. I've just been extremely busy. Sorry for the long wait and the semi short chapter. I'll try and get two or more out in the next two weeks.  
  
Chapter 6  
  
Tomoyo sighed as she glanced out the open window, her long purple hair was in French braid with a rope of pearls intertwined in the locks. Today promised to be another perfect day, and one she would have to spend with other royals and nobles. The garden below was a bustle of activity as gardeners, soldiers, and servants alike hurried along with their day. She envied their ability to enjoy this time of the morning outdoors, while she had to remain cooped inside doing nothing but getting ready for breakfast.  
  
She leaned further out the window, her body fully supported by the purple bay window seat. She took a few deep breathes, trying to ingrain in her mind the sweet smell of the flowers below. Creeping ivy glided up towards her window, soft blue and purple flowers opening as the sunlight began to reach for them. She reached out and touched a petal softly, before she withdrew her hand back into the warmth of her room.  
  
Sakura was so lucky, sometimes. She never had to worry about talking to dignitaries and other high ranking officials all the time, especially ones she didn't like. She never had to worry about offending people. She never had to sit down and learn the customs of a half dozen cultures, just to prevent such offenses. She didn't have to get up at dawn, so that the maids could get her ready for the day- which apparently took several hours. She didn't have to act her station and set an example for others. And most of all Sakura could do whatever she wanted, outside the lessons given by her father.  
  
Tomoyo sighed. How she would love to be that free. Then again she knew that Sakura hated that part of her. The lack of responsibilities played a heavy toll on the young sorceress. Without responsibilities, Sakura was dreamed a ghost as she had no rank. Tomoyo, however, would prefer to be a ghost for she felt it would be a whole lot easier than being some captive princess. Sure she got everything she ever wanted, but that still didn't make her happy. What she would give to have no responsibilities for a while. She would have snorted at the thought, but that was so unladylike. After all, she learned and memorized her stories and lessons well.  
  
The servants that had been cleaning up the room, shuffled out finally leaving the melancholy princess to her own devices. Her life was so incredibly boring that even grass had more excitement than she did. Nothing ever amazing, catastrophic, or mind-altering ever happened to her. Each day she got up, dressed, ate breakfast, sang, talked to herself, changed clothing, ate lunch, met dignitaries or potential husbands, dinner, more potential suitors, and then off to bed so that she could start the whole vicious cycle again the next day.  
  
She loved to sing and sew outfits which was the only bright part of her days, but ever since Sakura changed all the Clow cards, Sakura avoided her like a plague. Sakura did still wear the outfits she made, well the ones less eccentric and with fewer bows, but it wasn't the same. A slight giggle escaped Tomoyo's pursed lips. She had just remembered the time when Sakura was changing loop, and all the ribbons on her costume had become a problem. This ultimately led Sakura to have a slight aversion to the whole lot. Though, she was still glad that Sakura did wear the clothing she made, even if they tended to be her less 'amazing' works.  
  
Tomoyo smiled. Sakura always looked the best in all her designs, especially the more eccentric ones. She slightly hoped that Sakura never married because she would never loose her one and only true friend. She crushed that thought as soon as it came. If Sakura wanted to get married, that was her own business. "Besides," she thought, "I could make a fabulous wedding dress, and a husband would not stop me from making clothing for my best friend."  
  
She glanced back outside and she grew slightly depressed. How she wished she could just get away for a little while and explore. It had been years since Sakura and herself explored the palace grounds together. She even missed the ruins by the edge of the forest, where Sakura always whimpered about ghosts. Maybe she could convince her mother to give her some time later this week to go out and just enjoy life outside the castle. If she brought Sakura and some escorts, her mother might let her. "I think I will ask, though, I must ask Sakura-chan first. I do not want her to do anything she does not want to." That said, she turned her head away from the window.  
  
Breakfast would be served shortly in the great hall for all the dignitaries. It was never good for a princess to be late or too early. If she left now and took the small graceful steps that one such as her should, then she should make it in the respected timetable. She wished Sakura could keep her company, but sadly her rank meant nothing to the ones of nobility.  
  
She rose, gracefully from her seat, the cream satin rustling softly. A string of peals lined her slim waist matching the choker around her neck and the pearls in her hair. Soft sleeves descended from her smooth shoulder, flaring into transparent silk at her elbows. Flowers were embroidered all over the dress in the same color as the dress, therefore only up close could one actually see the designs. Unlike last night, she didn't have to wear a corset, as corsets were only used for special attires. Lucky for her, corsets were starting to loose favor in the fashion world. Good thing too, since she couldn't stand how tight they constricted her.  
  
She made her way across the room and opened the door. In front of her stood a man wearing black pants, with a silver trim, and a blue tunic with matching trim. A black belt hung around his waist, holding a ceremonial sword and dagger. The dagger caught her interest the most, since she carried her own under her dress. Her mother always wanted her daughter to be safe, even if it meant giving the sweet child a weapon. Tomoyo, however, didn't really know how to use it for her mother made sure she was always well protected. Her eyes traveled up to his framed blue eyes, that glinted mischievously. It seemed that he had caught a joke that she had failed to miss. Confusion flashed across her face before she noticed what it was.  
  
The young man had his hand up in the air in a preparation move to knock on the door. To his slight disappointment, she had opened the door just before he would have knocked. Furthermore, his hand was only a few inches from her face and he would have hit her had she been any bit later. Her eyes widened in surprise as he slowly dropped his hand, a slight smile carved on his face.  
  
Finally, Tomoyo registered, who was in front of her. She would forget those mystical navy orbs in her lifetime. "Sir Hiiragazawa. Good morning." She curtsied lightly, the material making minute sounds.  
  
"Good morning, hime-sama. I had thought it would be polite to escort such a treasure to breakfast. As I can see now, you do not seem to need such assistance from such a low noble as myself. I will not trouble you-"  
  
"I would be delighted for your assistance, kind sir," interrupted Tomoyo. Her cheeks suddenly flushed red with embarrassment, a small delicate hand raised to her mouth in horror. She had just interrupted someone else. If her mother caught wind, she would be lectured for hours. "Excuse me, Sir. That was very impolite of me." She made to curtsy again, but a gloved finger under her chin, raised her head again.  
  
Eriol's eyes twinkled behind his glasses, as he watched the myriad of emotions play in the amethyst eyes. "You need not humble yourself on my behalf, my lady." He pulled his hand away from her chin. "I am greatly honored by your presence and acceptance, your highness." He bowed his head slightly then held out his arm.  
  
Tomoyo took it, gratefully. A servant moved forward to close the door as the two walked down the hallway, and to Tomoyo's amusement, at just the right pace. "Are you enjoying your stay, Sir Hiiragazawa?"  
  
"Aa, very much so. Your kingdom is magnificent and your hospitality is exceptional. Such exceptional service that I have not seen in a long time."  
  
"Thank you very much, kind Sir. We do try our best to please our guests. Whatever you need is yours for the asking." A slight pause was filled her. Tomoyo felt the slight tension of the arm before she ever heard the words whispered into her ear, sending shivers down her spine.  
  
"Anything?"  
  
Tomoyo, upon reflex, tilted her head to the side to rid her neck of the chill. Deciding that she did not want to go any further in that topic she asked, "How is your friend, Prince Li getting along?" It was a good safe switch. Her mother had always told her that to know how well your service was, it must be judged by other high ranking nobles. She decided to ignore the strange sensations she felt from the man beside her.  
  
"Well, I assume he is fine," Eriol said, his voice laced with a little skepticism. No one had yet found the errand prince this morning. His room had been vacant of life, as if he didn't even sleep, which he probably didn't. His sword and gloves were found outside near the training area, but it appeared that he hadn't been there for awhile. The gardens nearby and the training facility were empty as were most of the second, third, and fourth floors.  
  
Eriol had spent the better part of the morning trying to find him. Sadly, everyone in the Li house expected this from him. The only problem was that no one could find him. Even Queen Yelan couldn't search him out with her normal calling way. Eriol had gone as far as trying to track the prince's aura, but failed. This most likely meant that Syaoran was near or around another magical device or person.  
  
Eriol had lost the chance to seek out any such devices as breakfast was almost upon him by that time. Then he, of course, wanted to escort the lovely princess to breakfast. This of course took time, as he had to find his way to her chambers. After thirty or so minutes, after having some pretty embarrassing moments, he finally arrived at her chambers, just in time.  
  
He wanted to know more about her as he found her unremittingly intriguing. She had a very keen eyes, much like himself, he realized. Everything she said or did was always produced at just the right moments. 'Fascinating' was all he could say to that.  
  
He glanced over to see Tomoyo frown slightly. Realizing that he had been silent, pursing his brain waves, he added, "But Xiao Lang is the hardest person to keep track of. I also would not judge your hospitality by him, unless you have quite a few climbing trees."  
  
Tomoyo smiled again and glanced slightly up towards Eriol's grinning face. He was a few inches taller than her, which she was grateful because she really disliked having to stretch her neck to look at others. "Reminds me of Sakura-chan. You can never find her when you need her."  
  
Eriol's glasses slid down his nose slightly. A sudden thought occurred to him. "Is Kinomoto-san up yet?"  
  
Tomoyo shook her head. "Sakura-chan would need a whole army to waken her up before noon."  
  
Eriol sighed. So much for that idea. He was hoping that Syaoran would be with the sorceress. Wait till he found out about her little 'secret.' He had discovered it last night as he reflected upon the decorations of the ball. The flowers were controlled to an extent, but as he recalled most of the magical persona had to keep knocking out the flowers. Flowery was not a very bright card when it came to showering her gift. Thus, all morning Eriol had been dying to tell Syaoran that Sakura was the new Clow Mistress.  
  
He frowned slightly at that thought. That actually might cause problems. Syaoran always wanted to be the keeper of the cards, but most of the Elders believed that only Eriol would receive them. After all, Eriol was half the reincarnation of Clow Reed. Of course, Eriol failed to mention that the cards would not return to him, but to the destined child his former self foretold. The memories he had needed to know who the destined was, however, were in a different body. Now he knew, which would really tick off the council. He grinned, a little maliciously. Served them right for always getting on his case.  
  
Then again, Sakura being the new mistress might actually solve some of those problems. In fact, Queen Yelan would find that very important. It could decide whether Syaoran married his cousin or not. Seeing how Syaoran disliked his obnoxious cousin, he decided that Sakura would make a much better choice. That is, if all goes well and Syaoran didn't screw it all up. He sighed. The prince would mess it up, he knew. Therefore he decided to keep her identity to himself until a more opportune time arrived.  
  
"What's wrong, Sir Hiiragazawa?" asked Tomoyo, when she heard the multitude of sighs emitting from the blue hair man.  
  
"Nan demo nai. I was just hoping that Xiao Lang would be with Kinomoto- san."  
  
"Is he missing?"  
  
"In a way. As I said before, Xiao Lang is hard to keep track of. He disappeared this morning."  
  
Tomoyo giggled slightly. "A wish I could do that so well. I, however, cannot seem to find any suitable hiding place."  
  
"Another reluctant royal?"  
  
"I am afraid so."  
  
Eriol laughed. "Is it something in the blood or in the water you drink?"  
  
Tomoyo smiled and giggled again. "I think it is more in the people around us. They tend to hunt us down whenever something goes wrong."  
  
Eriol smiled warmly. "I shall make a note to never become a royal, seeing how I do not like people hounding after me all day."  
  
Tomoyo sighed inwardly. How she wished she could do that so easily. "And I will try my hardest to get rid of them."  
  
Eriol laughed again. "I think you should take a page out of Li's book. I believe it is called 'A Thousand and One Ways to Get Rid of Annoying Nobles.' I believe he's currently working on volume two while we are here. I am afraid that you will have to wait for that addition in order to for your escape."  
  
Tomoyo mocked a sigh. "Alas, I will. I guess I will have to refer to Sakura- chan and sleep my life away. Of course, I will need to lock the four doors in my room to keep out the servants."  
  
"So, my dear lady. What does a fair lotus flower like yourself do in her 'free' time." He emphasized free, a glint sparkling in his eyes.  
  
"Reading, sewing, and singing."  
  
"What do you like to read?"  
  
Tomoyo's face lit up. "Everything." She had a faraway look in her eyes as she said that. She rarely had time to read, but the times she was able to, she cherished.  
  
Eriol noted the distant look. She was really stunning when she closed off what everyone else around her was doing. Often he found that most courtiers and nobles held many different masks over their faces, rarely showing their real side. He found that this young slip of a woman rarely hid her true colors from others. He could not think of another soul in the world that deserved to harness this girl. Even he felt dimmed by the utter radiance of her being.  
  
At last the pair arrived at the banquet hall. With a quick glance, Eriol noticed that Syaoran was still missing. He was going to be in trouble with Yelan when she noticed he wasn't with him. He winced slightly, already feeling the gaze of the Queen on him. After breakfast he would have to find Syaoran or forfeit his head.  
  
He guided Tomoyo to her seat beside Queen Sonomi before moving towards a lesser table to eat. As the meal started he was angered by the fact that Syaoran still hadn't appeared. One day he was going to have to learn the responsibility needed to rule his kingdom. May hap the sorceress would be needed far more than he anticipated. 


	7. Magic Kind

Author notes: ^.^;;; Ummm. one of my reviewers was, how would you say. hyper, and proceeded to write the phrase "More Chapters" 540 times. How much I'd love to write that many chapters, that would be over kill. There will be more chapters, if I get the time out of my schoolwork.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own cardcaptor sakura.  
  
Chapter 7  
  
"Hoe?!" Sakura stopped. Syaoran and herself had been in the orchard for most of the early morning, but at the sound of the distant bell, time seemed to freeze. She knew what time that bell tolled at, considering it was the sound that usually woke her up in the morning. It was nine o'clock and time for breakfast for all the nobles. Nobles.?  
  
"What is it?" asked Syaoran, currently sitting under a cherry tree in a relaxed manner. For several hours they had explored the expansive orchard, until he finally had to make the girl stop and rest. He was used to training for hours on end, but three hours of wandering through an orchard, did have it's own toll. He was slightly disappointed that he hadn't been able to learn anything knew, considering that plant life was part of his magic. He was an Earth mage; therefore he studied and learned all he could about the different plants and animals of the many lands. However, he did get a large insight into the girl. She was full to bursting with life and never seemed to get too caught up in being wrong. And wrong she tended to be.  
  
"The bell has rung," she whispered more to herself than to her companion.  
  
Syaoran didn't seem to understand what this signified and shrugged with indifference. After all, he had delayed the Li Clan arrival to noon, yesterday. This meant his annoying sisters had only seven hours to prepare for the ball. Heaven forbid that they needed more than that. He sighed inwardly. Still, he had been yelled at for a good half hour as they complained about not having enough time. Of course, he decided not to mention that the time it took for them to yell at him, they could have been getting ready.  
  
Sakura looked at him. "The bell signals breakfast for the nobles, Prince Li. In fact, it signals most meals and the school training."  
  
Syaoran nodded, comprehending. They had similar bells at his home. The school she was referring too, however, only dealt with military personnel. The pages and squires attended classes during the day, usually taught by the elderly knights, and then served the nobility by night. It was a hard life getting up at dawn every morning and not going to bed till late in the evening. He too had to train as a knight and did the same things, except serve nobility at night. No, he had to deal with courtesans all night, which to him was far worse than doing seventy pages of arithmetic. He still had one more year before he was knighted, and frankly he wasn't overly excited about it. Eriol loved to talk about the Ordeal, the final test to become a knight. Personally, he had heard that it wasn't a pleasant experience. On top of all that training, he also had to school his magic.  
  
The training at the university was just as bad, if not worse, than knight training. The first level of magical studies started with simple word phrases in a multitude of languages. These students tended to be fairly young, usually ages five to ten. He had been there for almost two years, considering that he kept ditching his classes when he was at that age. The most comprehensive year tended to be the following level, or second year, where the students were placed into classes based on the magic they controlled. This was the year that students wore robes the color of their strongest magic, thus Syaoran wore green.  
  
The next level of magic was based on hand motions without words, and tended to be some of the hardest magic to learn. Most students rarely ever got above this stage and would graduate as a third or fourth year student when they turned eighteen. The next level was magic of the mind, where you did spells by just thinking about them. This was a fifth year trait. Finally, there was weaponry and artifact magic for sixth years. Syaoran was currently a sixth year and still had another year to go before he was in full control of his magic.  
  
"Prince Li," Sakura started, after she had noticed that the prince had gone silent for sometime. Confused she sat down next to him. "What are you thinking about?"  
  
Syaoran glanced over at her before deciding to voice his thoughts. "I was thinking about the different levels of magic at the university as well as the different types of magic there are. Pretty silly to think about that because of a bell, isn't it?"  
  
Sakura smiled and shook her head, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her head upon them. "Not really. Could you tell me about them?"  
  
"Uh. sure, I guess." Syaoran scratched his head. "Well, the first years just learn simple spells, but in the second year you get to learn all about the different types of magic out there."  
  
"Different types?" Sakura asked, her eyes a little wide. She had read some things about the different kind of magic, but she never really gave it any thought. After all, only her father was proficient in any type of magic. Yue and Kerberous were magical guardians of the Moon and Sun, but she never actually heard anyone say anything else about them.  
  
"Yes. Magic has several different forms, ranging from life to elemental to universal. The strongest magic is of course black. Black, isn't an evil magic, just a magic that controls life and death. Only a black mage has the power to kill or bring someone back from the dead. One of my friends is one of those, with the characteristic navy blue aura. Then there's Light magic, which is a healing magic represented by white. Both black and white are called the 'life forces' of magic."  
  
Sakura's eyes sparkled. "I know about the white mages. They are the ones that live in the temple to the Far East, right?"  
  
Syaoran nodded. "Yeah. Whenever a white mage is chosen at the university they are sent immediately to Temple Yume. That is because in order to control light magic the holder has to be pure in body, mind, and spirit."  
  
Sakura frowned slightly. "I hope I'm not one of those. I have a hard enough time staying inside the castle."  
  
"You don't know what kind of mage you are?" he asked surprised.  
  
Sakura shook her head.  
  
Syaoran scrunched his shoulders up a little. "I guess that would make sense if you were never tested. Only a strong enough mage can test to see the colors of the auras."  
  
"Colors? You can have more than one?"  
  
"Aa. Most mages have many different shades, but typically there is one that stands out the most prominent and defines your main aura color."  
  
"Ah. So your green aura is your strongest magic. What is that?"  
  
"Green is the elemental magic for Earth. It is the strongest elemental out there. It is also an offensive and defensive magic."  
  
"What does it do?"  
  
"Anything that involves the Earth. You can make things grow or you could desiccate the whole land with one spell."  
  
"Sugoi!"  
  
"Fire is the most offensive magic. People with it usually have a pulsing red aura. You will most often find them in a role such as a fighter or mercenary. They also tend to loose their temper real quick."  
  
Sakura stifled a slight giggle at the ending remark, which had sounded like Syaoran was speaking from first hand experience.  
  
"Then there's wind which is a defensive magic. These are also very strong healers, as well as last line of defense in a battle. The tide in a battle could change because of wind elemental wizards. Lastly, Water is also an offensive and defensive magic. They can purify water and cause tidal waves to wash away an enemy."  
  
"Are all mages taught to think about battles?"  
  
Syaoran shook his head slightly. "Not really. I guess it is just because I'm a future ruler that I have to think about such things as that. In reality most elemental mages don't have battle experience. The university doesn't teach that kind of magic in classes."  
  
Sakura nodded her head slightly. "So, are those all the different magics?"  
  
Syaoran shook his head. "No. The rest are called the universal magics. Star, Sun, and Moon are the highest ranking of those. These tend to be really rare because the bearer must have some ability in all the elementals and life magics. I've actually never met anyone who was one of those, but my black magic friend has a strong fitting in both Moon and Sun magic. Universal magic also has lots of lower levels like Illusions, Transportation, and Levitation. The lower universals tend to not be separated out, as they are strong factors in the elementals. Occasionally, like your father, you run into very strong illusionists."  
  
Sakura's eyes were wide. That was a lot of stuff to remember, but still really fascinating. She was about to say something more before her stomach growled.  
  
"I take it that we should go eat before your stomach decides to eat you from the inside out."  
  
Sakura smiled and stood up, dusting off her electric blue robes. "I think that would be a good idea, Prince Li. Shall I show you to the banquet hall?"  
  
Syaoran paused. He would no doubt be extremely late now, and it would be bad form to not show up. However, it would also be more embarrassing to show up exceedingly late. "Um, perhaps that would not be such a good idea. I am, after all, very late and I would dishonor my family more showing up in such a state."  
  
Sakura glanced over realizing that he was referring to his peasantry type clothes, his slightly mused hair, and the small dirt smudges that flecked his skin here and there. Sakura thought he looked absolutely charming, though she suspected that several of the nobles would faint dead away if they saw him like that. "Then I will see if I can find a servant to escort you back to your chambers to change." She turned around again, starting to walk up the slight slope in the orchard.  
  
"Kinomoto-san. Chotto matte!"  
  
Sakura paused and turned her head over her shoulder, confusion clearly showing on her face. If they dawdled too long breakfast would end and Sakura would miss her chance to eat. The prince could always ask for someone to bring his food, but she would be out of luck. "Nande?"  
  
He scuffled his boot on the ground slightly as he stood up from the tree. "I. ano. don't really feel like eating in a large crowd."  
  
She looked confused, before her eyes widened with realization. "You like to eat alone, don't you?" She knew a few nobles that preferred to eat in the confines of their rooms. "I can have a maid bring you fo-"  
  
"Where do you normally eat?" he cut in.  
  
"Hoe?! Ano." Sakura thought for a moment. "Usually with Tomoyo-chan, Sonomi- san, my father, and my brother in the small hall, though that's only if I'm up in time. With guests, I tend to just pick something up in the kitchen and eat outsid-"  
  
"Sounds great!" he cut her off again. He really didn't want to be with his mother or sisters anytime soon.  
  
"But Prince Li," Sakura started again, emphasizing the 'prince' part to show that she was slightly annoyed by his attitude. "You can't eat outside without prop-"  
  
"I want to eat outside and a small breakfast would be fine. Now show me the way to the kitchens."  
  
"Is that an order or a request, your highness," Sakura snapped back.  
  
Syaoran winced. He had made his speech sound a little high handed, but the whole 'highness' was annoying. He could barely tolerate 'Prince Li' let alone being called "your highness' with as much scorn the sweet natured sorceress could muster. "Gomen nasai," he muttered. "If you would be so kind as to oblige a humble prince's askance on where thy kitchen lies, I would be most honored, fair lady."  
  
Sakura glared at the prince hard, her brows furrowed in thought. A minute later she burst out into gales of laughter, as she finally noticed the prince's twitching eyebrow, barely concealed by his bangs. She made a mock curtsy, "Of course, sire. Right this way. Be wary of falling rocks and attacking tree roots." Of course as soon as Sakura had said this, she tripped over a tree root.  
  
Syaoran's mouth twitched in amusement, before breaking into a silent laugh. She apparently had caught on that he was not good at apologizing towards others. Nonetheless, it apparently put the girl back into good spirits, which made him glad, though he didn't know why. All he knew for certain was that she was highly amusing.  
  
Sakura picked herself up from the ground. "This way." She motioned him to follow and they made their way out of the orchard and into the garden. Sakura skipped along ahead, smiling brightly at all the different flowers that were blooming. It was late spring, and soon summer would be upon them.  
  
"Summer," thought Syaoran. This summer would be the last wizard exam he would have to take at the university. After the summer solstice he would be a full-fledged Earth Mage. He was excited, to an extent, for finally he would be in the same arena as Eriol. "Eriol," muttered his brain in distain. He had been a full wizard for three years now, and had also received the highest order ever given to a mage. Because of this fact, he was able to devote the last three years solely to knight training, in which he took the ordeal this past midwinter festival. It frustrated Syaoran to no end that he, himself, should be knighted by now, not his smiling, annoying, over perceptive, deceiving, conniving.  
  
His tirade was cut short as he saw the honey-brown of hair disappear into the castle. "That was fast," he mumbled under his breath and ran to catch up. At the doorway, he paused. The kitchen was a maze of fast moving people that it took him almost five minutes to spot the sorceress. "For one so clumsy she certainly knows how to move in a crowd," he muttered. He took a deep breath and made his way in, trying to make his way to the girl. He barely dodged servants with large trays of food, water jugs, buckets, chickens, oven bread holders, plates, glasses, squires and pages (all called in to work for such a busy week), and cooks.  
  
To his amazement, not one of them gave him a second glance and just maneuvered around him, if he was in the way. A few older women barked sharp commands at him, but the crude language was too hard to understand in this extremely loud setting. When at last he caught up to the sorceress, her blue robes apparently didn't seem to faze any of the help as they all ignored her; he was surprised to see that she was still smiling. How could anyone smile in a setting like this? He could barely breathe, let alone smile at anybody. Not that it mattered since everyone else here tended to scowl or were too busy to put any expression on.  
  
"Sakura-chan! You're early!" yelled a burlesque woman, wearing a dark green ragged dress and off white apron. Stains adorned her outfit, as did innumerous patches. "The second bell hadn't toll'd yet."  
  
Several other cooks and servants laughed, while Sakura sweated slightly. It was well known that she had a habit of oversleeping, and it had become quite a joke to the people in the household. "Ne, Kime-san, we have any bread and such for me friend an' I," she replied back, her voice dropping to that of a 'commoner' speech. She stood out enough as is, and thus tried her best to speak more like the ones around her when duty called.  
  
The woman brushed thick black curls off of her face as her beady black eyes fell upon Syaoran, whom shifted nervously behind the girl. He seemed slightly out of his element, but his clothing and appearance bespoke of a station no higher than a steward. a young steward at that. "Possibly came with one of the noble parties," Kime had concluded to herself. "Though if he was another lad like Sakura-chan, they might have a chance to gettin' hitched." She grinned widely.  
  
Sakura stepped back slightly at the grin. Kime-san was notorious as a matchmaker of sorts for the young people of the castle, and that did not abide well with her.  
  
"Who yer friend?" Kime called back.  
  
"Syaoran," came the masculine reply. Lucky for Syaoran, few people knew him by that name. Most people referred to him as Xiao Lang, Prince Li, or any denomination of the two.  
  
Sakura looked over her shoulder at him in surprise, her mouth slightly hanging open. A sharp warning glare from the prince abruptly shut it and she returned her gaze back to Kime.  
  
"Little wolf, eh? Kawaii! And dont ye looker like a straved one at that, Syao-kun! Hikari! Get me some of that cheese there, an' Amana a basket!"  
  
Syaoran and Sakura sweat dropped as dish after dish were placed into the basket. This was more like the amount Yukito ate, not little ol' Sakura. Then again, who knew how much the prince would eat, but by the look of things, he had met his match a long time ago.  
  
When the basket was filled to the specifications of Kime, she handed the basket to Syaoran, much to Sakura's protest. "It is the duty of the man to carry such things," Kime stated.  
  
Sakura was tempted to spill that Syaoran was actually a prince, and that she, a humble servant, should carry the item. Syaoran, however, didn't see the problem considering how heavy the blasted basket was. He grabbed Sakura's hand and lead the way back outside. Much to both of their embarrassment, catcalls followed the duo out of the kitchen and well into the morning sunshine. 


	8. Ripples

A/N: Finally chapter 8. I'm sorry it has taken awhile. I've been busy. Also, you want emailed, place your name on my notify list. Also I don't know when this will next be updated. Why? Finals are coming real soon, like three weeks or less, and I also don't know where and if I'll have internet access during the summer. We shall see. Anyway, Enjoy.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura  
  
Chapter 8  
  
"Do you think Yelan would go as far as to marry off the prince while they are gone," murmured an elderly masculine voice. He sat in a large silver chair with a spiked upper rim that pointed upward like hands reaching for the sky. He wore a black robe that shimmered silver each time he moved. His weathered hands laid delicately below his chin as he surveyed the room. Quan Lang was the high elder of the magical council. He and five other mages helped and protected the Maho Kingdom or, as the viewpoint of the Li Clan, to destroy it. His piercing ice blue eyes glared at each of the other elders trying to see which one would speak first.  
  
"Her majesty is wise. She will not defy the will of the council. If anything it will be the boy who will defy us. He is strong minded and refuses to listen to anything but his own voice," said another voice. This one belonged to another male, far younger than Elder Lang. He had short black hair that was slicked smooth. He had yellow-green eyes that looked much like that of a snake or a feline. He had a pointy nose and a permanent scowl on his features. He wore a dark green robe with a black sash around the waist. Lam Heung was an Earth mage and the highest classed based on the sash around his waist.  
  
"Elder Heung, I think you overestimate the dear boy. He's far too wrapped up in himself to go out and find his own woman. Besides, it is well known that he doesn't want to get married. It will be impossible for him to even think about trying it," a female voice snapped. Her long brown hair hung over her shoulder in a tight braid. Her burgundy eyes were devoid of any glint in the semi dark room, and her red painted nails tapped endlessly on her chair's arm rest. Elder Ai Diem wore a red robe signifying her as a fire mage.  
  
Elder Heung snorted his derision at the comment before another elder spoke. "You treat him too week," said another man. His soft white beard and cheery gold eyes bespoke a kind nature to this man. His gold robes glittered even in the dank room. This sun mage was everything that represented a cheerful sunny day. It was actually quite sickening for some of the people in the room to stomach at times. However, Elder Beng Thuy was very shrewd at times, and his information was sometimes invaluable to the council. "Xiao Lang is a fighter and a darn good one, I might add. If we step on his toes too many times he will snap, and strike back better than Diem's vipers do."  
  
"There is nothing to fear at the present, either way. Yelan knows that the law states that the heir must marry another magical being or accept the will of the council." This voice resounded from the quietest and youngest of their number, Elder Cheh Zihong. He was a water mage, with dark blue robes to match his light blue eyes and long blue hair. One could even say that the boy, no older than twenty, even had blue lips. He was well known for his beauty and almost feminine like features, but just like all in this room he was as sharp minded as a pin. "We have not found another sorceress outside of our realm powerful enough to take the position as queen."  
  
"Unless he goes and raids the Temple Yume," snickered the final voice of the council. Elder Jeong Wanqing was the final mage representing wind with his yellow robes. He was chosen as a last resort five years ago when one of the elders past away. He, therefore was treated with little to no respect, but he never seemed to mind it. He was just glad enough to be one of the dissenting voices against the acts of the council, even if some of his ideas were not quite 'all together.' His blonde hair was beginning to gray and his black eyes twinkled with something akin to mischief.  
  
"I think," started Heung, his green robes moving slightly, "that there is a mage powerful enough to be a problem."  
  
A deadly silence filled the air before the High Elder, Lang, spoke, "You speak of the ripple that has been flickering?"  
  
"I do."  
  
"That's ridiculous!" snapped Diem. "My seers have found nothing to show that the ripple is anything but a mere distortion. It can't be caused by an one mage!"  
  
"Calm yourself, Elder Diem," spoke Zihong, his blue eyes flashing. "Just because you don't believe there is a female more powerful than you that doesn't make it truth."  
  
"You know it could be Eriol up to his usual trick, Heung," said Wanqing.  
  
"It isn't," Heung replied, his viper eyes narrowing to slits. "My students and I have discovered that the presence is coming from outside the Maho Kingdom, and is nothing like we have ever felt. We are still unsure if the being is male or female, but we are positive that the sorcerer has a lock on their magic."  
  
"A lock?" muttered Thuy. "I thought locks had been disbanded by Clow Reed. How can there be a lock?"  
  
"We believe that this lock was created by Clow Reed," Heung stated. "In fact, we are finding that the being's aura is intermixed with that of Clow Reed's magic."  
  
"The Book of Clow has been opened?" asked the High Elder.  
  
"Actually, we suspect that it was opened almost six years ago when the huge crack in the magic continuum occurred."  
  
Whispering began around the room. Magic as a whole was always viewed as a large river that flowed infinitely long with occasional flares marking the births of new wizards. When a large or powerful magical aura was born a ripple or crack would appear in the river. A crack usually signified a very powerful magic had been released all at once, while a ripple slowly grew in size as the wizard causing the ripple improved in ability.  
  
"I feared as much."  
  
Everyone in the room froze and turned toward the High Elder. "The person you are referring to is still very much a child."  
  
"Wait. You know who the sorcerer is that is causing this?" asked Thuy.  
  
"Not know, just speculate." Lang sighed and leaned his head back against the chair. "The child should be nearing their sixteenth birthday soon."  
  
"Sixteenth?!" shrieked Diem. "When were you planning on telling us?! The ripple has been growing since the crack!"  
  
"Actually it has been growing since the child's birth. The crack finally brought attention to it. After all, when it was finally seen, mages began to panic about demons taking over the world," responded Lang.  
  
"Splendid," Wanqing said. "If it's a girl then the prince can marry her. A powerful sorceress will make this kingdom strong."  
  
"You dimwit," snapped Zihong, his blue robes swishing as he stood up. "We need the boy to marry his cousin! That wench was born to rule! We can't have some ignorant brat stepping in!"  
  
Wanqing stood up as well. "Oh yes, we must stick to the cousin because she's under the influence of the council. Heaven forbid we let the prince choose his life instead of us!"  
  
Diem glowered, contemplating the situation. "Be quiet. We need to know more about this 'ripple' before we start chewing each other out. I suggest we send out a mage or two to find the child."  
  
"And send the cousin to the Shounin Kingdom to keep the prince in line," finished Lang.  
  
"All right," broke in the elder. "Send out a few mages to see if they can find anything. As for the cousin, she will probably end up there too late to stop anything if the prince has already found a new bride. However, send her out. She'll cause enough mayhem to keep Yelan's nose out of our business. This meeting is concluded." A loud resounding bang echoed through the room and the elders shuffled out of the room muttering and complaining to each other.  
  
~~ ~~ ~~  
  
Syaoran swung his sword around again, his green shirt loosely cut for just this type of exercise. He wore brown pants and matching gloves that currently held his sword. He was standing outside in the same place he did every day since they came to this kingdom. It had been two days since he had last seen the sorceress, Sakura. Much to his annoyance, he couldn't get her out of his mind. Something was really bugging him about her. There were just too many gaps where there should have been something to explain everything. And yet, he still had no idea what he was missing. The girl had magic, that he was positive of, but how much he could only guess. She appeared to know little about the magical world, but still enough to slide by without making a complete fool out of herself. Then there was also the fact that she had not been picked up by the Elders.  
  
That fact bothered him the most. It was clear to him that either the Elders didn't know anything, or they were keeping a tight lid on this whole thing. Could Sakura really have stronger magical powers than himself? It was highly possible. He knew for sure that the girl had a lock on her magic, and he also concluded that there had to be at least more magical powers hidden in it than the lock was made to hold. Whoever placed that lock obviously didn't know how powerful she would get.  
  
Of course that thought puzzled him even more. Why would anyone put a lock on her magic? What had been the point of it? Maybe the Elders did know of her and attempted to block out her magic. After all, if he found a more powerful sorceress he could marry her instead of his annoying cousin. Not that Meiling was bad or anything, its just she became more like a leech than a human. She clung to him and yet still obeyed the Elders with great ease. She had been fooled into believing that she would make a great queen for him, but had failed to see how much the council planned to control her if she succeeded in obtaining the thrown. It was sad, really.  
  
He swung his sword one last time through the air. He sighed and rubbed a gloved hand over his sweaty brow. When did his life become so complicated? His mind drifted back to the girl with the lively green eyes. In just one dance, his entire being seemed to have become more of a jumbled mess. He was completely lost, now, at how to go about his plans for the future because of her. He needed a road map just to keep his heads out of the clouds. He sighed again. He had been doing that a lot lately, too.  
  
"GAH!" He dropped his sword and jumped, trampled, cursed, and fisted his hands in his hair for a good five minutes. "Get out!"  
  
"Sorry," came another voice.  
  
Syaoran turned to see Eriol grinning ear to ear and not the least bit sorry to interrupt the prince's tantrum. He was wearing blue pants that matched the rims of his glasses and a nice crisp white shirt. Syaoran glared daggers at his 'friend' before growling incoherent curses as he picked up his things. "What do you want?!" he snapped.  
  
"What? No good morning? Or how are you my Cute Ancestor? Or what have you been doing, my dear friend?" Eriol said with a smug sound to his voice. "One would think you didn't like me, my cute little descendant."  
  
"Shut up," growled Syaoran again.  
  
"Certainly, but first I have something to talk to you about."  
  
A pause stretched out until Syaoran's sanity snapped. "WELL?!"  
  
Eriol rubbed his ears slightly at the harsh, loud sound. "You really need to work on your manners, Xiao Lang. I do all this work covering for you and finding out pertinent information for you. And this is the thanks I get? Sheesh." Eriol threw his hands up in mock exasperation.  
  
"Just spill it, gaki."  
  
Eriol sighed and shook his head. "All right, but don't shoot the messenger." Eriol paused again, making sure he had the full attention of the prince before he continued. "First of all, your cousin is on her way here. Saw it in the water up in Kinomoto-sensei's tower."  
  
Syaoran knew what he was talking about. Every type of magic had some 'seer' magic, meaning that they could see things from the past, present, or future. Eriol was able to see all three, though his strongest visions came from the past. Of course, this is expected considering that Eriol had half the soul of Clow Reed. Using such things like water, mirrors, dreams, or any other kind of reflective surface, a mage could 'see' things. Syaoran wasn't very good at controlling the visions, and thus was one of many that was not called to be an actual seer.  
  
Syaoran frowned. Meiling here would cause problems. He had no doubt that the council sent her to make sure he stayed chaste to his betrothed. He snorted his derision. He would not bend to their tyranny even if he had to marry some peasant girl to get rid of them.  
  
"Then second, I'm sure is of more importance to you. Kinomoto-sensei has the second half of Clow Reed's soul."  
  
"And that's important, how?"  
  
Eriol grinned. "His daughter has the cards."  
  
A silence drew as the prince tried to digest this information. He suddenly felt sick, feeling the bile hanging at the back of his throat. If she had the cards-  
  
"Not only that, but the cards are hers. Completely. There is only a small trace of Clow Reed's magic in them." Eriol winced inwardly, hoping that his friend would not blow up. It had been the prince's dream to own and control the magical forces of the cards. In fact, almost every wizard that had heard of the cards wanted the power held in them. Now that a new power had already claimed them, none could touch the power until the death of the new owner. Eriol prayed that Syaoran wouldn't be so rash as to kill the girl to get what he wanted.  
  
The silence became deafening, but Syaoran hardly noticed. His mind was going in ninety different directions. Once again that girl had screwed up his train of thought. Now what was he going to do? Part of his plan was now gone! His shoulders sagged in defeat. He couldn't believe all the rotten luck that came his way. The cards had been the key factor to get rid of the Elders. Now it was gone. He would never be free from them.  
  
He collapsed to his knees and slammed his fist into the ground. The ground shook slightly, but not because of his fist. His conflicting emotions had released his magic freely. In bright green waves, the magic pulsed off of him causing more shifting and shaking of the ground. His amber eyes had turned a dark brown, the pupils missing completely. He had lost control of his life. He had lost control of his magic.  
  
Eriol sighed. This was not what he had been hoping for. "Xiao Lang, you need to calm down. Getting over emotional over this, is not going to help you. It's not the end of the world if Sakura has the cards." It wasn't working. His voice was just not getting through to the boy. The ground was shaking more and almost a roaring sound erupted that only ones of magic could hear. "GET A GRIP!" Eriol yelled. He had only yelled a few times in his life, and he hoped the shock would get to the huddled boy on the ground.  
  
It didn't. Syaoran was starting to loose the rest of his control, as the sound of the raw magic enveloped him, blocking out all other sounds. It just wasn't fair! His whole life he had been trying to escape the clutches of the Elders and their tyrannical persecution. They had tormented his mother, though indirectly, and made every effort to get rid of anyone or anything that could stand in their way. They had made his first friend leave! He had been only six, but he knew they had made her leave! He ditched those classes because of her!  
  
At the time he hadn't known why she had disappeared, but two years later he overheard Elder Heung talking about the success of eliminating his old teacher and a few other interfering personnel. The council wanted to make sure that he, the prince, remained unpolluted by others the council disapproved of. He started to rebel again, but this time not from magic and training, but from people.  
  
That was the year Eriol had come to the palace and became a page like himself. They became fast friends because they had similar goals. The first was to become as strong and powerful as they could. The second, eliminate the ones that tried to rule over their lives. So far, only Eriol had accomplished those goals to any extent.  
  
Syaoran screamed in his mind. He wanted so much to be free of his cage. To just run away would be wonderful, but he could never leave his mother alone. He had to be strong and brave for her. A tear leaked out of one of his eyes. But he couldn't take it anymore. He had to-  
  
A soothing presence cut off his thoughts. He vaguely registered the faint pink aura that gently caressed his shaking, green. It was starting to calm the waves of raw magic, and he felt himself grow calmer. A hesitant hand touched his face, brushing away the stray tear. The touch brought reality crashing back onto him. The raw magic disappeared abruptly, his eyes fading back to their normal amber.  
  
As his vision cleared he could finally see who was crouched on the ground in front of him. Scarlet robes that matched the small red bows in the short brown hair were the first colors to distinguish. He groaned inwardly as he realized who was in front as the green of her eyes focused. His expression softened slightly when he noticed the deep concern flickering in her eyes.  
  
"Are you all right, Prince Li?"  
  
"Aa. I'm fine. You're a Star mage," he muttered weakly.  
  
A small giggle erupted to the right of him, and as he turned his gaze, he realized that the girl's hand was still on his face. He pulled back abruptly, a faint blush tinting his cheeks, but Sakura hadn't noticed. Instead her eyes were transfixed on the people off to his right, including one rapidly drawing black haired princess.  
  
"Kawaii!!" Syaoran winced and braced himself for what came next. Four girls poured out from the side of them and tackled Sakura.  
  
"Have you ever seen such a cute girl?" said Fie Mie, wearing a light blue dress with flowers embroidered here and there.  
  
"Look at her face, kawaii!" said Fuutie, wearing a matching dress of yellow.  
  
"And the clothes are just so adorable!" said Fan Ran, wearing the same dress in black.  
  
"And her green eyes are so pretty!" said Xie Fa, wearing blue.  
  
All together: "Kawaii!!"  
  
Sakura sat there, a little awe struck and too surprised to move. Her hand had dropped as soon as the sisters bombarded her, but she still sat in the same position. Her eyes were wide in confusion and a faint blush flecked her cheeks. Who were these people?  
  
Syaoran had quickly crawled away, much to the amusement of Eriol who had seen the whole thing. Sakura being the first person to arrive on the scene, with her hair tousled from sleep and her eyes wide with concern. She was soon followed by Tomoyo, wearing a light blue spring dress that required no corset for her lithe figure. As Sakura barreled through Syaoran's massive raw magic waves, Syaoran's sisters had arrived. Each of the girl's wore identical expressions of concern, and would have moved forward if Eriol hadn't told them not too. Next, came several people Eriol did not know, but he could sense the magic radiating from them. Of course, Syaoran would have waken every magical being within a ten mile radius with that tantrum. Lastly, though he was pretty sure Syaoran still hadn't noticed, Queen Yelan and Vizier Kinomoto arrived.  
  
Needless to say, the scene was chaotic now with at least a dozen or more people talking all at once. Most demanded to know what happened, but were drowned out by the quartet of voices that were cooing over Sakura. Only a few were silent in this group, but they were in too much shock to trust their voices anyway.  
  
Queen Yelan's piercing gaze noted that Syaoran looked terrified, with only a little anger left fighting in his eyes. The sorceress looked confused as she looked from one sister to the next. Her daughters were once again causing a scene. Eriol looked smug. The Princess Tomoyo had her nose buried into a piece of paper, and the lead writing utensil whisking rapidly along. Fujitaka looked rattled and confused, with the others mimicking his expression.  
  
Deciding that she wanted answers, she asked, "What is going on here?" The soft force of her voice silenced the crowd at once. All eyes turned towards her, many with their mouths hanging open. "Well?"  
  
Syaoran looked down at the ground, refusing to meet his mother's gaze. He felt her heated gaze finally land on him, and he winced slightly waiting for the tirade.  
  
"I'm sorry, your highness," came Eriol's reply. "It was mostly my fault. I was being stupid and annoyed Xiao Lang."  
  
Yelan's eye fell onto the blue haired boy. Annoyance wouldn't have caused Syaoran to loose his temper and break out his powers. Her eyes turned to look at the sorceress, who was sitting on the ground looking at Syaoran. An inquisitive eyebrow rose, but she made no comment.  
  
"So who stopped the Apocalypse?" asked Fujitaka, blunt and to the point as usual.  
  
"I did, I think," mumbled Sakura, her eyes focusing on her father. Her hands were now folded in her lap as she twisted the fabric of her robes nervously. She never liked being the center of attention especially when she didn't even know what she did. All she could recall was the sudden disappearance of the raw magic when she touched his face to wipe away the tear.  
  
Four female voices started talking at once, crowding around Yelan. Each of them trying to retell the version they saw of the two mages. They, to say the least, were highly more inventive stories talking about how Sakura had come to ease the broken heart of their dear younger brother. Syaoran and Sakura just watched open mouthed, growing redder in the face with each passing word spilling form the girls.  
  
Yelan held up her hand. "I think that is enough for now. I will speak to Miss Kinomoto, Eriol, and my son later. Now all of you go. The day has begun and there is much more to do." Yelan turned with the four girls following, back into the palace. Tomoyo rushed over and grabbed Sakura running off through the gardens, dragging the dazed sorceress. The others grudgingly disappeared back inside, leaving the original occupants of Eriol and Syaoran.  
  
"That was interesting," Eriol mused.  
  
"Don't even start with me," Syaoran said, picking himself off the ground and dusting off his brown pants.  
  
"I meant to say, I think some of the girl's magic leaked out."  
  
"So you realized it was locked too, huh?"  
  
Eriol nodded. "Star magic... hmmm... That actually would make sense."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"The Clow Cards were made with sun and moon magic. The only other magic you can use to change those cards would have been black, white, and star. It is obvious that she's not a white mage since she isn't at the temple nor a black mage because their magic is impossible to seal. That only leaves star magic."  
  
Syaoran looked at Eriol in surprise. He never knew that before. He assumed that all magical users had the ability to use the cards, but he never knew that in order to control them only certain types were acceptable. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"  
  
"I didn't know. I learned that from my other half. Quite an interesting fellow, he is."  
  
Syaoran sighed. "I'm going to take a bath."  
  
"And I'm going to talk to Sakura-chan." Eriol was about to leave off in the direction of the garden when a rock hit his head.  
  
"You are going to your room until I'm ready to talk to you!" growled Syaoran. "And by then you had better have some decent answers."  
  
Eriol sighed and turned to walk back into the palace following Syaoran. However, the fuming prince never did see the small smirk gracing the lips of his annoying friend. 


	9. Discoveries

A/N: Well, It's been awhile hasn't. Gomen. No internet for three months for one, homework for another, and three other fanficts keep me pretty busy. Not to mention I am writing five original stories. Oi. I need a vacation. Anyway, Here's the next chapter out. I'm sorry you had to wait so long. I guess you can expect a new chapter once every one to two weeks. Sorry, but school is a little more important to me and I am writing a whole lot of stories. Anyway, have a go at it. Enjoy!  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura  
  
Chapter 9  
  
Back in the confines of Tomoyo's purple room, said princess was perched on her vanity stool still drawing rapidly. Her hands made continuous, swift motions across the paper, not even noticing the pacing of the anxious Sakura. The sun streamed through the window, still early morning, as the sun was still not very high in the sky. "Sakura-chan, did you know that this is the third time this week you've been up before noon tide?" asked Tomoyo, still engrossed in her picture.  
  
Sakura paused in her pacing. "Really? I hadn't noticed." A short pause followed, and then she burst out, "Hoe?! Does that mean I'm sick?!" She shuffled around the room in a worried state, her red robes swishing with the movement. She kept checking her forehead with her hands several times, before she was convinced she didn't have a fever. She placed her hand on her belly, but already knew that the only thing upsetting her stomach right now was her nerves.  
  
Which brought her back to her present predicament. Was she going to get into trouble for intervening? It was possible, considering that she did touch the prince. That wouldn't have caused much of a problem, if there hadn't been so many present. At least ten upper nobles saw, and from the chaos of whispers from the maids, at least twenty knew about the incident. Nope, there was definitely going to be a penalty for overstepping her position- whatever that was.  
  
"Sakura-chan, could you turn your head to the side and frown?"  
  
Sakura did as she was told, still engrossed in her problems. Then again, she might get let off the hook for her behavior.  
  
"Try looking sympathetic."  
  
Sakura changed her facial expression accordingly. The incident had caused a considerably large magical outburst. It would have thrown off anyone with magic in their blood, up to a ten mile radius. And she did calm the raw magical waves, even if she didn't know how she did it.  
  
"Smile."  
  
Sakura smiled, weakly. She was not in a smiling mood.  
  
"No, no," said Tomoyo. "Look like you just found a kawaii kitten."  
  
Sakura grinned, picturing a small kitten in the palm of her hand. Wait, what had she been thinking about?  
  
"That will do. Arigato."  
  
Sakura began pacing again. Okay, she still had over stepped her place, therefore she had to apologize for her behavior. Sakura nodded her head with determination. She would apologize to Queen Yelan and Prince Li for her behavior. There was no way around it. Unless, of course, she wanted to bring shame unto her father and brother. She could never do that. Nope, apologizing would be the only thing that would help her out of her present predicament.  
  
Tomoyo smiled brightly at her finished picture. She put her drawing utensil down and turned her note pad around to face the worried sorceress. She only had to wait another moment for Sakura to turn her gaze in her direction. Tomoyo's smile widened as she saw Sakura's green eyes grow. A loud "Hoe?!" resounded in the room, which in turn was followed by a loud thump.  
  
Sakura was sprawled on the floor, having tripped on the hem of her robes. She grumbled, rubbing her sore backside, before returning her gaze to the picture. It was a picture of herself and Syaoran depicting the scene from earlier. It wasn't quite what she remembered, though. For one, she hadn't been wearing a dress, especially this particular dress. In the picture, she was wearing a ball gown, a very decorative gown with... jewels on it? She didn't own jewel's like that! Secondly, she noticed that Syaoran wasn't in his 'peasantry' clothes for training. He appeared to be in royal attire, from the emblems and sashes on his shirt to the decorative belt and sword. Even more off was the fact that the Sakura in the picture was wearing a tiara. She didn't own any tiaras!  
  
Okay, so she should have assumed this would be the creation that Tomoyo would have come up with. A total romanticized version of the whole unfortunate encounter. "Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura squeaked. Horror was etched on her normal carefree face.  
  
Tomoyo, however, wasn't paying any attention to the horrified Sakura. She turned her sketch back to herself. "Oh Sakura-chan! Kawaii desu! I love this picture! You look so kawaii! And Prince Li, too! I cannot wait for the wedding!" She turned her violet gaze to the shocked sorceress. "Do you think he will propose soon?! You two are so perfect for each other!"  
  
Sakura's face lit up like a cherry. "P-Propose?! T-Tomoyo! I t-think you misinterpreted the whole encounter out in the gardens!"  
  
Tomoyo stood from her chair, twirling around with her sketch book, ignoring Sakura's comments as she was in her own little world. "I cannot wait to start making your wedding dress! And I will need to make you a whole new wardrobe. After all, you will be a princess, and robes are not fitting for such a status. I cannot wait to start making them!"  
  
Tomoyo stopped and looked at Sakura, who had thought it best to just stay on the floor. "Do you think they will let me make your clothes? I do hope so! I would be very sad, if they disallowed me to. You will, promise to visit me as much as possible, so that I do not get lonely here, right?" She didn't wait for an answer, as she once again danced around the room, her blue dress swirling around her form.  
  
Sakura felt too weak to stand, now. Tomoyo had pictured a whole romantic affair going on between her and the prince. What was worse, was that she wasn't the only one. Prince Li's sisters had all jumped to that very conclusion, too. Did everyone else think that, too? If they did, then an apology was not going to be enough. She had just caused a whole scandal in less than five minutes! She should have never touched his face! "I should have stayed in bed."  
  
Tomoyo stopped twirling, and dropped her sketch upon her bed. "Sakura- chan?!" Her voice was quiet and odd sounding after her loud day dreaming.  
  
Sakura turned her head over her shoulder. What she saw, surprised her. Tomoyo appeared to have a very serious, yet faraway, expression on her face. Even more surprising was that Tomoyo wasn't even looking in her direction. "Hai?" asked Sakura, a little cautiously.  
  
Tomoyo sighed, her eyes focused on the window, before she looked over at the Sakura. In an instant she was kneeling on the ground next to her. She then held out her little finger. "Can you keep a secret and a promise for me?"  
  
Sakura, shocked, about the speed of movement, nodded dumbly to the question, as she hooked her littler finger to Tomoyo's. "Hai..."  
  
"Remember when we were little, and had all these crazy dreams we wanted to do when we were older? And that our biggest dream was for both of us to see the world before we were too old to move?"  
  
Sakura nodded, still at a loss to what Tomoyo was trying to get at.  
  
"Well tomorrow is the final ball, and after it I am going to do just that!"  
  
Sakura wasn't sure she heard right. What did Tomoyo mean by that? "Nani?" she asked, perplexed.  
  
Tomoyo sat back on her heals, pinkie still held with Sakura's. "I am going to see the world, starting by running away."  
  
"Hoe?!"  
  
Tomoyo clasped her free hand over Sakura's mouth. "Not so loud. I do not want any of the maids to hear. They are such gossips. Anyway, there is a small passageway through the outer walls that we can use to get out. Your father told me about it a long time ago. It was around the time we were studying the Great Wars. Anyway, he said that this castle had many passages to escape from in order for the palace personnel to survive the Jirun siege. In the end, however, the royal family had to evacuate or perish, as the main gates were beginning to fail. So, they escaped through one of those secret passages."  
  
"And this pertains to running away, in what way?" asked the ever clue less Sakura.  
  
"I found a passageway!"  
  
Sakura's jaw dropped in surprise.  
  
Tomoyo nodded in glee. "Two days ago. I was looking for you, since you had not appeared for lunch. I looked all over for you, and eventually found myself at the old ruins, just beyond the orchard. That's when I stumbled upon an old inscription in a wall. I am positive that there is a passageway there!"  
  
"T-Tomoyo-chan? Y-you can't be serious. There's no way a passageway would still exist there after two hundred years. It would have easily caved in, or worse it would cave in if you went through it."  
  
For a moment, Tomoyo looked rather lost and... sad. Her lavender eyes lost all sparkle in them as if her very spirit was crushing.  
  
"Gomen nasai, Tomoyo-chan! I didn't mean it! It could still work! They made things a lot stronger back then, didn't they?"  
  
Tomoyo sighed. "No, you are right. We have no way of knowing what dangers may lie in there, if a passage even exists. I am sorry that I did not think things through so well." She released Sakura's hands and pinkie. "It was a silly idea, anyway. Running away would not help anything. I will still be Queen whether or not I get to see the world."  
  
"Iie! Tomoyo-chan! It's not a silly idea at all!"  
  
"Really?" her hopeful eyes peering down into Sakura's.  
  
Sakura's heart strings pulled. "Iie, it isn't."  
  
"Excellent! Then I come now to my promise!" Tomoyo reached and grabbed Sakura's pinkie again.  
  
"Hoe?"  
  
"Will you promise me, that no matter what happens, you will protect me and come with me?"  
  
Sakura's eyes widened. "You thought I would let you go on your own?"  
  
Tomoyo shook her head. "Iie, but I wanted to make sure that you would not back out on me. After all, if you are my bodyguard, then you cannot, right?"  
  
"Hai, but I still wouldn't have let you go alone."  
  
Tomoyo smiled. "Then the trip's a go?"  
  
Sakura nodded. "Hai. I will come with you and protect you with my life," said Sakura, pulling downward with her pinkie to seal the promise.  
  
Tomoyo's eyes sparkled. "Arigato Sakura-chan!" She released her pinkie and hugged Sakura. "We need to start planning our escape." She stood up and began listing off things, "We need food, supplies, money, transportation, appropriate clothing, weaponry..." So lost in her in her own thoughts, she missed the worried frown that had marred the sorceress's face.  
  
~~ ~~ ~~  
  
Eriol took a seat in the circular tower room, facing off against Queen Yelan. He had a very composed look about him, but inside he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He had opted to change out of his casual clothes, seeing as they didn't seem 'mage appropriate', and was thus wearing long black robes, embroidered with silver moons and stars. Still, the atmosphere in the room remained just as ominous as the woman sitting there.  
  
Queen Yelan, garbed in a long navy blue dress, seemed to disappear into the darkness of the room. She studied Eriol for a moment, watching as he sat delicately in his chair. He looked relatively calm, almost too calm. She found it amazing that this boy of seventeen could look like a man in his early thirties, just by his calm facade. She shifted her position, looking a little more foreboding in the dark depths of her seat. "Care to explain what happened this morning?"  
  
Eriol rested his elbows upon the chair, tapping his fingers together. "Actually, I have some questions to ask you, before we begin the interrogation."  
  
Yelan sighed. She knew she should have suspected that Eriol would do something to avoid his sentencing. Though, now that she thought about it, he seemed more nervous about asking that particular question. Interesting. "What's your first one?"  
  
"Why does Vizier Kinomoto's daughter have a lock on her magic?"  
  
"What makes you think I know?"  
  
"Just a hunch," Eriol said, his glasses glinting in the minuscule light.  
  
Yelan fidgeted with her hands before, standing up. The torches in the room flared alive, bringing light to the room. She walked over to a small stack of parchments, and proceeded to sift through them to find what she was looking for. "I thought you, above all, would know that answer."  
  
"I know part of the story. I know that when Kinomoto-san opened the book of Clow, Clow Reed's ancient magic put a slight damper lock on her magic. This was used so that she could catch the cards without them rebelling to a new master. After the cards are all caught the lock would be lifted. From there, as we know, she had to change the cards with her own powers. There's just one slight flaw. The lock was never lifted. How she changed the cards is beyond my present understandings. Therefore, I was hoping you would have that answer."  
  
Yelan picked up a small piece of parchment and turned to face Eriol. "You are quite correct in your assumptions thus far, Eriol. The lock was lifted, as it was meant to be."  
  
Eriol leaned forward on his chair, "So why is there still a lock?"  
  
Yelan handed over a paper. "That is a very long story, but I will tell you what I know. Queen Sonomi had a cousin named Nadeshiko. She had been sent to the university to learn magic, where she was trained as a water mage. In her sixth and final year, she met a man named Fujitaka Kinomoto. He was a first year professor teaching Illusions to sixth year students. He was five years her senior."  
  
Eriol kept his composure indifferent, but in reality he was going insane with this information. It explained why people still referred to Vizier Kinomoto as sensei. So, Sakura's mother was a water mage and her father an illusionist? Very strong qualities found in Star power. No wonder the cards had picked her so readily. Even with a previous lock on her magic, there would still be the an overflow of powers. This also explained why Touya Kinomoto could see spirits and ghosts. "I wonder if he has a lock too," he thought.  
  
"The two married soon after. Kinomoto-sensei and his wife continued to teach at the university for several years, until..." Yelan drew off the end of her sentence. How could she put into words what had happened to the poor woman.  
  
Eriol looked up from his musings. Something tickled him at the back of his neck. He turned his gaze down to the piece of parchment in his hands. The blood drained out of his face as he read the paper. There was no way he couldn't keep indifferent now.  
  
"Nadeshiko did not have any enemies that we could think of at the time of her murder. It had been put off as a highway robbery at the time. No one dared to go up against that, since there was no evidence, and not many people can recall the incident. Kinomoto's son, Touya, was told that she had been killed in a carriage accident. The same things was told to Sakura, when she was older, for at the time of the incident she had been no more than a baby."  
  
"Was there any investigation into this?"  
  
Yelan's face contorted with a little flash of anger. "Supposedly the counsel would handle it. There has yet to be any leads." Yelan snorted her contempt.  
  
Eriol narrowed his eyes. "They surely would have been able to see what had happened."  
  
"They should have, but apparently too many disruptions at the academy were more pressing than a murder of a fellow mage."  
  
"So, what does this have to do with the lock on Sakura's magic?"  
  
"Now that is the intriguing part of this mystery." Yelan's face turned from anger to a more pensive frown. "On that very day, both of the Kinomoto children's lights disappeared from the magical river. Only Elder Lang, newest member to the High Counsel, even noticed their disappearances. He had quickly gone to Kinomoto-sensei to find out why."  
  
"Did Elder Lang find out why they had disappeared?"  
  
Yelan shook her head. "He could not find anything wrong with the two. They were perfectly healthy, with no side affects that would have been caused by a magical lock. It was almost like something had sucked up their magic."  
  
"Interesting."  
  
"A few years later, Kinomoto and his two children left Maho Kingdom for Shounin."  
  
Eriol nodded his head, digesting all the new information. "I think that sums up my current questions, for now. Domo arigato gozaimasu."  
  
"Good." Yelan sat back down in the chair, the lights dimming again. "So tell me, Eriol. What happened this morning to make my son loose control of his magic?"  
  
Eriol gulped slightly. Yelan was a daunting figure when she wanted to be, and persistent as ever to get answers when she wanted them. "Well, where do you want me to begin?" he asked uneasily.  
  
"From the beginning," came the monotone reply.  
  
~~ ~~ ~~  
  
In a dark corridor, a small silvery wisp of light swirled around a water pool. The crystal blue water shimmered in eerie swirls that defied the rules governing the flow of water. Swirls of colors mixed, intertwined, and formed new colors as the liquid continued to move. Several figures in black hooded cloaks stood around the pool waiting for their leader to show.  
  
A moment later, a figure emerged from the dark. This cloaked figure also wore a black cloak, but with silver trim. A clearing of a voice followed, before a quiet voice spoke softly. "We have a new threat to our very livelihood. A child, be he good or evil, has the power to destroy the very structure of our world. It has been fifteen years since the last cleansing of our race. It is time that we eliminate those that will stand in our way."  
  
A murmur of ascension came from the group, as they each stepped towards the swirling waters. They each held out a hand over the water, a soft chant spilling from each of their lips. As the chanting continued, the waters flared with more colors and began to writhe and thrash like a caged animal. The figures then began to move counter-clockwise around the pool, their hand still held over the water.  
  
"Ancient God of Mystics," spoke the leader again, the voice rising over the chants of the crowd. "We beseech to thee our request of salvation. Give us your eyes to see the traitors of our people. Give us the picture of the child that would destroy us all. Give us the wisdom and strength to vanquish those that oppose your wonders."  
  
The water began to boil, splashing upward into the air. The people withdrew their hands quickly, or else lose their hands. A loud crack resounded and then the water lay still. The leader stepped forward looking down into the depths of the water. A picture began to form, spreading the colors around. The others moved forward to see as the picture of a tree became clearer and clearer.  
  
There was another murmur of voices at this. "I don't believe this," said one voice. "This is the fifth time this has happened."  
  
"Are we going to get attacked by a tree, still?" asked one voice, whom was promptly hit over the head.  
  
The leader held up a hand for silence. "I think it is time we try to find this tree. It could be a location marker. Find out the name of this tree, where it can be found, and who might live near it. Dismissed."  
  
There was a round of complaints at this, but the group disbanded from the dark room. The water, had returned to it's normal, viscous state. When the room cleared, the water flowed once more into color. A picture of a woman with long lavender-gray hair appeared in the water. Her blue eyes crinkled in delight, and a smile broadened on her face. "Idiots, every last one of them." The water shimmered again, and the woman diappeared back into the waters. 


End file.
